House: Thoth, Rank: 1/255, Squad Zero
M1 Rank: ?/1,275
Term 1, Round 1
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Each morning the squad had the obstacle course booked at 0600. Strictly speaking, there were no squad-scheduled activities until the Gauntlet at 1800 on a Friday. Daedo followed the 0600 obstacle course with PT at 0645. A few other squad members did the same.
Picard and Barran both loved PT, and if they did not keep themselves in check would do too much at the expense of subjects they needed to improve on. Barran would argue he needed to for stress relief, which was a good argument in his case. Academic subjects did wear on him.
Mace was quiet, but she had begun to open up to Daedo, especially if they weren’t surrounded by the other squad members.
“I didn’t think you would like physical training so much.” Mace said.
“I don’t,” Daedo answered.
The pair had left the gym, finished their morning meal, and were at the gunnery range. Daedo’s morning was similar all week up until 0900. At 0730, he ate and at 0815, he attended the gunnery range to either explore new weapons or use the practice to improve his marksmanship.
“You’re up to three PT sessions a day if you include the obstacle course,” Mace said. She had noticed his schedule. She was usually at the gym with him in the morning and had seen him there yesterday afternoon.
“I’m working hardest on my weakest area,” he said. “I’m going to spend less time on math and physics and more time on PT.”
“Commendable and smart,” Mace said. “And what about tech and the modifications?”
“To be honest, that is going to take most of my time. I think we’ll learn more by doing. I’ll have to do math, physics, and even AI nurturing to improve our exo.”
“It sounds more like advanced engineering than M1 physics to me.”
“Yeah, but we all need to do a tech and physics project,” Daedo said. “So we should work on something that will improve our exo and our arena performance.”
Mace considered that as they both continued testing weapons ranging from variations of assault rifles to railguns.
“I like the railgun,” Daedo announced suddenly between loadout changes.
“Why is that?” Mace asked. She had her own opinions but wanted to see what Daedo thought.
“It has so much potential. Low energy consumption and the velocity of the round will result in much better damage for a mech or an exo. The accuracy could be superb if the magnetic field was more precise. And you could load virtually any metal into it. You could shoot anything. Almost,” he qualified.
“I see,” Mace said thoughtfully.
Axel-Zero appeared out of nowhere when their gunnery session was coming to an end. Daedo wasn’t sure if she had bugged him or just tracked him down. She hadn’t messaged him to find out his whereabouts. “Come to the cafeteria with me, everyone is waiting, “ she said. “We just got word that everything has been finalised and we can take possession tonight.”
She led the pair back to the M1 cafeteria in a rush. “This is exciting!” she exclaimed. “Tomorrow, we go and claim our very own workshop … warehouse … whatever it is.”
“Shh,” Barran said, waving a hand downwards. “We don’t want anyone knowing what we’re doing.”
“Why?” Axel-Zero asked, slightly perturbed that her exuberance was being squashed.
“Because that is how it’s done. You never let your enemy or competitor know what you’re up to,” Barran explained. Although it was a vague explanation lacking any real specifics, it sounded like he was parroting his parents.
“It can’t hurt to hide what we’re doing, but I do worry about how we’re going to transport the light suits back and forth,” Vannier said.
“We should get a carrier vehicle,” Barran said excitedly. “A VTOL capable of MACH-4 in the lower atmosphere.”
“Um, I don’t think that’s necessary for just up the road,” Vannier said. “We could probably rent one as needed or speak to Master Nader. Surely the academy uses something for offsite exercises and competitions.”
“I have my bike. How are the rest of you getting there? Are you going to run?” Barran asked, changing the topic slightly.
“How do you have a bike?” Axel-Zero asked.
“I have an EU-restricted license for robot-assisted vehicles. Which means as long as my bike has a robot backup, I can ride it through unrestricted roads and engage the robot on restricted.”
“There’s no age limit?”
“No, they just cost like fifty bitcreds.”
“You know, we can just order a couple of hovervans,” Daedo suggested. “One with lifter-arm capacity would be sufficient to carry five light exos.” He would have said they could just wear the light exos and run there in them, but that was against the rules.
Barran scowled. “Ugh, public transport? I have never gotten in one of those hovervans. Rent an ATV carrier at least. Please.”
A male member of Shu Squad One came to stand by their table, and the conversation stopped. Soon after, three more Shu Squad One members stood behind him. “I’ve been wondering,” he announced suddenly without invitation, ”why Shu Squad Zero practises with you when you are so crappy?”
Vannier: Daedo, can you please let him know, in your usual way, why he is wrong?
Daedo: (sigh) Okay.
“The time you spend wondering is probably better directed to learning strategy,” Daedo answered succinctly and proceeded to ignore the members of Shu by putting on his helmet and bringing up transport rental and purchase information. His squad followed his lead, donning their own helmets.
The Shu members hung around for a minute, and it seemed they could not think up any other insults. The Thoth Squad Zero members ignored them while looking up rental vehicles, and the Shu squaddies soon got bored, turned on their heels, and left.
Daedo: Barran, can you drive a robot-assisted transporter as well?
Barran: Anything with full robot control in the EU. If you get a vehicle like that, you don’t even need me.
Daedo: True. I was just curious. I’m looking at the Marais 44-M mech transporter. It would be able to handle over eight heavy exos. It is massive, but we can leave it at the workshop and just call it when we need it.
Barran: I like Marais; let me have a look …
Barran: Damn, these aren’t cheap.
Vannier: Coming from you, that must mean it is super expensive.
Axel-Zero: Why don’t we just rent one two times a week until Daedalus can afford to purchase its own transporter?
Vannier: That’s a good idea.
Barran: Fine, but I’m taking my bike.
Axel-Zero: What would you be doing anyway?
Barran: Ah … learning? Watching the magic?
Mace: lol
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Picard: The Shu guys just stormed off after you insulted and then ignored them.
Axel-Zero: It was a beautiful thing to watch. I think CyberMech also schooled you in smack talk.
Daedo: I never talked to anyone in CyberMech. And I was just telling the truth.
Mace: lol
Barran: Is Mace hacked?
Mace: No. I just find you and Daedo funny. For different reasons.
Barran: Now everyone is practising sledging. I warn you, Mace, I am a master sledger.
Mace: A master would not need to announce that they are a master. It would be evident.
Axel-Zero: Oh burn! I think you’ve met your match, Barran.
Barran: We’ll see. Remember, she can’t catch me on the obstacle course or Gauntlet.
Axel-Zero: Don’t speak too soon. She’s improving faster than you, and look at her – she’s forty centimetres shorter and twenty fewer kilos than you.
Barran: Why are you arguing for her? Stop bringing in ring-ins. If you want to compare we will compare directly, between me and you.
Axel-Zero: Very well, let’s see who ranks higher at the end of week two.
Entry ranks had Axel-Zero at six, only ahead of Gaumont in Squad Zero, while Barran was fourth behind Mace, Vannier, and Daedo.
Daedo began his philosophy tutes while sitting at the table. His lunch session was over, and he wanted to spend the entire weekend working on the light exos.
The rest of the squad, excluding Gaumont who was presumably in his quarters, kept bantering and planning for the weekend. Axel-Zero booked a suitable transport.
After another forty minutes, Vannier left to report to Master Nader. Barran moaned over math tutes, hoping someone would offer assistance. Axel-Zero, Picard, and Mace seemed occupied in their respective virtual learning environments.
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Vannier saluted Master Nader. “Reporting as ordered, Master Nader,” she said upon entering the master’s office. She had not seen the master leave this office, nor take off her helmet. There was probably another entrance other than through their quarters, but it was impossible to tell without access to the room controls.
“Relax, Vannier,” Master Nader ordered. “Sit.” She pointed to a stool on the opposite side of her desk. It wasn’t something to relax in, nor was it uncomfortable. As usual, everything Nader did was calculated to the nth degree.
“I wanted to discuss this week with you,” Nader began. “To summarise for you what I have seen as well as my thoughts. Anything you glean from this conversation, you can take back to your squad and enact course correction where needed. You will lay the foundations of what is to come as well.
“I am not often wrong in my forecasts, Vannier, and in terms of Squad Zero’s potential, I have predicted correctly with six out of seven cadets. Initially, I had you pegged as the squad leader. Your profiling was excellent, and your skills are superb for an M1 cadet. But I am going to issue a course correction. It is apparent to me already that you will operate better as part of a leadership team.”
“You mean with Daedo?” Vannier asked.
“Of course,” Nader replied. “The profiling tests are designed to measure a large spectrum of capability. They become unreliable when you veer into the realms of genius. They cannot discern the difference between a mathematician of exceptional quality and one who is capable of solving problems no one else in the academy is, including Chief Albert. And this is just scratching the surface. I have early results of his cybernetic bandwidth. It surpasses that of the best U3 cadets. This is improbable, if not impossible. But more of his background was revealed during this week, so now nothing will surprise me when it comes to Cadet Daedo. Unless it were to turn out that he possessed alien DNA.”
This concerned Vannier. It was like hearing that a friend was possibly an enemy from outer space.
“Do not fear, his DNA was tested and retested this week. There is no trace of alien interference or characteristics,” Master Nader said.
Vannier was shocked that they took this so seriously.
“Now, that brings us to what needs to happen in the squad,” Master Nader continued. “We can go one of two ways, and I would like you to decide which you prefer. If it is a path that you desire, then your performance will be of a higher level.”
Vannier nodded, uncertain of what Nader was talking about, but she would find out soon enough.
“One path is that you become squad leader and Daedo acts as your tactician, strategist, and lead technician,” Master Nader said and seemed to watch Vannier closely to discern her reaction. Of course, because Master Nader was enclosed in her full armour and helmet, she could be looking in the opposite direction for all Vannier knew.
“The second path,” Nader continued, “is that we make Daedo squad leader, and you perform the role of diplomat and act as his right hand in terms of dealing with squad members’ morale and performance.”
Master Nader again paused for a short while.
Before Vannier could respond, Nader said, “It is as I predicted – you prefer the latter option. You would rather he lead and you assist. This is quite admirable and speaks well of your healthy ego. I am a little concerned about your lack of ambition, but we shall see if this can be directed into ambition for Squad Zero instead of for you personally.
“Now, we shall continue to have these regular talks. I will handle Daedo quite differently, and I want to direct certain actions of the squad through you. Picard needs pushing; she has strong self-motivation, but her self-worth assessment is too low. She will respond to strong leadership, and Daedo has supplied some. Follow his lead. Do not allow her negative thoughts to pervade. Challenge them.”
“Gaumont – leave him be. He will need to learn the hard way, I am afraid. You will have many years together for him to realise what is important and what is not, and if his potential slips … well, remember that anyone in Squad Zero is replaceable. All I need to do is order it. Do not advise him of this in his current state of mind; it will simply push him further in the wrong direction.”
“Master,” Vannier interrupted, “why do you not have a word with Gaumont? Surely he would listen to you.”
“Vannier,” Nader said seriously, “you are training to be a leader. Would you like me to pilot your exo and fire your railgun also?”
“Sorry, master, I miscalculated,” Vannier said.
“We did discuss this shortcoming in our last meeting. Please work hard to remedy your forward-thinking deficiency. If in doubt, give Daedo a problem to solve and see where his thinking takes him. He sometimes surprises even me. This workshop, for example. It has never been done before, and although I assisted, I am quite pleased, as is the commander.”
“The commander knows of it?” Vannier asked, horrified.
“Of course,” Master Nader said, giving no extra intel on what the commander was or was not aware of.
“At the end of next week, new house rankings will be issued, as well as squad leaders assigned. You are dismissed, Cadet,” Master Nader ordered.
Vannier shivered and left Master Nader’s office.
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The regular week ended the same way it began – with a Gauntlet followed by two exo combat sessions. The strategy of drilling specific skills with a lack of focus on actual results remained the same. Even Shu Squad Zero caught on to the tactic after four consecutive days of strange manoeuvres and began to copy Thoth Zero by practising a few themselves.
Squad Zero loaded their exos into a rented transporter and headed to their new workshop late on Friday night. Vannier and Axel-Zero handled all the paperwork with both the academy and for taking over the workshop. The other shareholders just had to submit their digital signatures.
Daedo was surprised to see his father waiting when they arrived at 2145.
“How did you know?” Daedo asked his father.
“The lawyers told me,” Ikaros said. “I had to give guardian approval for all your dealings during the week. Companies, purchases, everything! I did not expect the academy to be like this at all.”
“It usually isn’t. We’re doing things a little differently,” Daedo said. “Some of the others will bring in outside help and work on their equipment in the on-campus workshops, but being in Thoth, we know ours will be crowded, and we wanted privacy.”
“I got your plans. And I have some ideas already,” Ikaros said as they began to walk through the workshop. He looked around. “This place isn’t bad. How did you afford all this? I saw in the paperwork that you are fifty per cent owner.”
“The creds from Spacebuild and CyberMech are paying for it,” Daedo said.
“You mean all those early morning tournaments paid well?” Ikaros asked.
Daedo waved his hand to indicate the workshop. “Yeah, they paid really well.”
“I’m not going to ask you if you can afford to maintain this place. I’ll just assume you have all that in hand,” Ikaros said.
“Don’t worry, father; my squadmates have a lot of experience and support with this sort of thing.”
“So, I can come here each weekend to help you?” Ikaros asked expectantly. He was happy that Daedo was getting along with his squad and that he showed faith in them. It was scary that all of this had taken place in a week, but if his son hadn’t made any friends and had zero trust in his squadmates, that would be much, much worse.
“Of course. We’ll be relying on your hands-on experience, even if it is with robots,” Daedo said.
“I have worked on security bots,” Ikaros stated.
“Really?”
“Yes. Fortescue has thousands of security bots and drones. Who do you think keeps all the ones in France operational?”
Daedo laughed. “Let’s see what you can do, old man.”
They toured the workshop with Mace while Vannier, Axel-Zero, and Barran worked in the office and living areas.
“This is a fully equipped shop,” Ikaros said, looking impressed. “You did well. The only thing I would recommend are upgrades to the machining nozzle and better instrumentation for testing. This equipment is passable, but for the best measurements of alloy composition, motor, and fine hydraulic tuning, you need an open platform and to feed the raw data into a bespoke analysing program.”
“I agree,” Daedo said, thinking of utilising Myrmidon for analysis and coding analysis tools. “Is the foundry adequate?”
“Yes, yes. All that matters is ‘garbage in, garbage out.’ It’s like an oven; you just need to put the right mix in and have the ability to control oxygen, carbon, and other inputs. Which this system will do quite well.”
“Where will we get an upgraded nozzle from?” Daedo asked.
“You need one for each fabricator and multifunction machining centre. That is seven altogether of varying sizes. I will build them for you from my workshop once I get the sizes and socket configuration. The machining centre cutters look good, but we may want to increase the fidelity to a nano level; this will require a rewrite of the software and the control mechanism.”
“That sounds expensive,” Mace said.
Ikaros shook his head. “Not if you make it yourself. It’s just time-consuming.”
“I know where you get it from now, Daedo,” Mace said. She was impressed his father would contemplate manufacturing parts for a machining centre, let alone improve an industrial model capable of repairing and building military mechs.
“Did you look at my launcher problem?” Daedo asked his father.
Ikaros nodded. “Yes, let’s leave that for tomorrow, but I do have an idea to test.”
“What launcher problem?” Mace asked.
“The one where you have to hold a launcher or a sword,” Daedo said. “Why can’t the launcher sit on your shoulder or attach to your chest or arm?”
“Oh!” Mace exclaimed excitedly as the drills came back to her.
Daedo and Mace had performed drills all week with either sword or launcher.