House: Thoth, Rank: 1/255, Squad Zero, Squad Leader
M1 Rank: ?/1,275
Term 1, Round 1
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Master Nader arrived back at her office. She checked that all her anti-surveillance devices were working and had not intercepted any recent covert surveillance attempts.
Nader: AI Zeus, please confirm secure environment and ready live encryption for the following correspondence.
AI Zeus: Yes, Master. It will be encrypted before the bytes in memory are created. The recipient?
Nader: Carrier Birdsong; M10 system, Titan Lu.
AI Zeus: Locating subspace transponder … mapping node jumps … recipient found … ready for message, Master Nader.
Nader: Report, Ares Nader A544 – Commander Titan Lu. The targeted humans have been successfully collected into the earth training program under my direct supervision. Early results show targets meeting or exceeding projected development. Current analysis shows the development path will be achieved without further intervention on my part. To increase the success rate, estimate from ninety to ninety-nine per cent of a further year will be required in this body. Direction required: Move to body forty-two for further target acquisition or remain in this body to increase success rate?
Minutes passed.
Titan Lu: Ares Nader. Report confirmed. Remain in situ; the external threat level is still high. Another Ares is developing target humans in body forty-two. Report on local threat analysis and sign off.
Nader: Understood. Local threat is negligible. Ares Nader out.
AI Zeus: Correspondence secure, Master.
Nader: AI Zeus, I have another task for you.
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The time ticked over 1630. Daedo had scheduled PT during this period, but due to the exertion of the morning’s obstacle course, he considered skipping it. And if the Gauntlet was not required, he could spend the rest of the evening coding and planning for the weekend’s work.
Daedo: Myrmidon, I am going to check the Gauntlet scores now. Can you alert me if the top ten rankings change from now, please?
Myrmidon: Sure, Daedo. If I run a result extrapolation analysis, I would predict the likelihood of the cadets in the evening sessions breaking into the top ten as less than a one per cent probability. At the moment, the highest-rank participant that has not completed all ten attempts – excluding members of Thoth Squad Zero – is twenty-nine. This cadet has not improved their score by more than three per cent per attempt. If they achieve their best improvement, their ranking will change by one.
Daedo: Thanks, Myrmidon. Once it goes past 1800, there’s no point in worrying anymore.
Daedo pulled up the current table for Thoth Squad Zero and then the top ten table.
Gauntlet
Score R1 A9
Squad Rank
M1 Rank (1275)
Daedo
252
1
1
Barran
217
6
18
Gaumont
140
7
823
Picard
234
4
5
Axel-Zero
229
5
10
Vannier
237
3
4
Mace
240
2
2
After four attempts in their new exos, Thoth Squad Zero had four cadets in the top five and five in the top ten. After Daedo’s first serious run, he was able to improve steadily as he honed his skills and refined and practised his route.
Rank
Cadet
House
Score
1
Daedo
Thoth
252
2
Mace
Thoth
242
3
Lazard
Shu
241
4
Vannier
Thoth
237
5
Picard
Thoth
234
6
Fortescue
Horus
233
7
Paget-A
Horus
232
8
Paget-L
Horus
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
232
9
Gallois
Osiris
230
10
Axel-Zero
Thoth
229
There were two decimal places associated with a score which were used to rank cadets in the event of the same rounded score. It was notable that the exceptional performance by Thoth had pushed all Amun-Ra cadets out of the top ten.
Of all the cadets, Daedo noted that Lazard – who was rank one for over a week – had an exceptional performance, given that her exo was standard or close to it. The Paget twins – who were both in Horus Squad Zero – did not receive the traditional name modification, as they would have both been Paget Zero.
Picard and Mace caught up with Daedo, who had decided to make his way to the Thoth gym after all.
“Daedo,” Mace said, “you want to come with us today?”
Daedo squirmed a little. The two girls would beat each other with sticks in the hand-to-hand arena. And while they were good at it, he did not relish the idea. It was not the concern over an injury; the medical bay at Fortescue Academy was second to none and quite capable of repairing anything from sprains to broken bones. It was the humiliation he would suffer at their hands - or as the case may be - sticks.
“You really should,” Picard said. “Not only is the workout excellent, but you also need to improve your movements. Especially if you’re considering using a sword in an exo or a mech.”
Daedo was quite proficient with a swordlance in CyberMech. More than proficient. Intellectually, he understood the attack and parry manoeuvres from the game as well as breathing. But she had a point – knowing what the move should be and being able to perform it precisely and efficiently were very different.
“Can I watch and you take me through a few exercises?” Daedo asked. “I’m still beat from this morning’s run.”
“Put on your helmet and run an AR tute,” Mace said. “That would the ideal start. I’ll send you a link.”
Daedo donned his helmet and loaded the tute. In AR, he could still see his stick – which was called a bo staff – and the arena including Mace and Picard. He could also see the virtual bo staff man, which he was supposed to follow through practice manoeuvres known as katas.
For the next forty-five minutes, he followed his virtual tutor over and over through the katas.
“You’re looking good,” Mace said when he finished. “I see no one has moved on the Gauntlet leaderboard. Still not running it tonight?”
“No,” he said, removing his helmet. “There’s no need. This was helpful though; I really feel if I keep practising with this staff, it will improve my sword work.”
“You can do this for years and not master it,” Picard said. “I’m still learning.”
“I think if you’re serious about melee weapons, it is essential training,” Mace added. “If you were to use a cestus, there are many forms of hand-to-hand to practice as well.”
“I wonder how well it translates to a mech,” Daedo thought out loud before shaking his head. “Even if you can’t perform the moves in a mech, it is invaluable … the instincts, the insight … and we are physically training anyway. It’s more efficient to learn a skill while working our muscles.”
“All true. So you will join us from now on?” Mace asked.
“Monday to Friday, 1630?” Daedo asked. Although his schedule was regimented to the minute in forty-five-minute blocks, that was not true for all the cadets. However, out of all his squadmates, Mace and Picard were the most disciplined.
Mace chuckled. “It’s a date!”
“A date where we beat you with sticks,” Picard said, cracking a rare joke and smile. She pantomimed hitting him with her staff.
“Dinner?” Mace asked, and she received nods all around.
“Dinner, then I get stuck into this coding,” Daedo said.
“What are you coding?” Picard asked as they walked back to their quarters. They rarely ate dinner in the M1 cafeteria. They usually ate it in their quarters due to the Gauntlet and arena sessions they had each evening starting at 1800.
“We have quite a few – almost a hundred different designs to test for the exo,” Daedo said. “We don’t need to do everything manually. I’m writing a program for the bots to prepare each design and test and record the results. It’s complicated, because not only are there differences in the design, there are differences in the materials used. Also, while I can use my father’s coding as a template for the manufacturing processes, there is nothing for the testing regime. I have to write that from scratch.”
“Wow, you’re really testing a hundred different designs?” Picard asked. “That’s amazing. Oh, and thanks for creating the railgun barrel algorithm for us.”
“No problem,” he said. “And yes, while our first version works quite well, that was just what I cooked up from ideas. I really don’t know if a thicker or thinner tubing works better. I don’t know if a certain polymer or carbon fibre is better. And then there is the reaction to different weapons; nanocarbon may be best with high-speed rounds from a railgun, but ceramics may be better with plasma bolts. The results from testing will guide the eventual design we use.”
Mace grabbed his head and pretended to look through his eyes and into his brain. “Are you sure you’re twelve? You sound like you’re forty-two.” She tapped his head to encourage the true Daedo to reveal himself.
Daedo pushed her away gently. “Yes, I am sure I’m twelve. You, of all people, can’t talk. Most of the time I think you are a wise old woman.” He laughed as she pouted at the observation.
Picard walked ahead a couple of paces and whistled quietly to herself. She then whispered, “Why do I feel like a third wheel?”
“Oh come on, Picard. We’re just friendly squaddies. No need to get all serious.” Mace was talking much more than usual now, slowly coming out of her shell with her squadmates. Although, Daedo was present, and he was usually the catalyst for her being social.
They arrived back to their common room, but before Daedo had a chance to start his meal, he was summoned.
“Cadet Daedo. My office now,” Master Nader announced, and her door opened. It had been almost a week since his last summons. Master Nader did not intervene, encourage, nor scold as often as he first thought she would.
“Sit,” she ordered when he came in, and he complied.
“Two things,” she said with her synthetic voice. “You are now officially squad leader of Thoth Squad Zero, which grants you certain privileges and responsibilities. Also, you have the added honour of being the leader for the entire M1 Thoth core, being the squad leader of Zero. In this, your conduct, performance, and leadership will come under the most scrutiny. I should not have to spell out what that means.”
Daedo nodded. He was not enamoured with the thought of being a squad leader. But it seemed he had little choice, and he had the luxury of Vannier’s assistance in the areas he was weakest and disliked.
“Secondly, what have you done about security?” Master Nader asked.
Daedo was shocked for a moment. Why would he have to worry about security? Weren’t they cadets in an academy? Wasn’t that the responsibility of the academy staff?
“I can see by the results of this afternoon’s attempted incursion, and the look on your face that you have done nothing,” Master Nader lectured.
Daedo became concerned. He had an idea where this was going.
“This afternoon an attempt was made to gain access to your modified exo,” Master Nader informed him. “And when I say access, I am certain the attempt was to steal them all. Fortunately for you, I keep tight security, and the robots responsible were apprehended before they gained access to your rooms and storage.”
Daedo was about to speak, but Nader held up her hand for silence. “Just listen, Cadet. The robot’s code will be dissected. We will find out where they were going and who is responsible. But you – you need to establish a security regime now … here … and especially at your premises off campus where you do not have the luxury of a live-in security agent by default.”
She finished her lecture by saying, “You need to think about security, not only for your physical assets but your digital ones as well. And lastly, you need to put in measures to protect your person.”
“Protect myself?” he said, confused. He understood her well enough; it was just incomprehensible that someone would wish him harm.
“You are in a different world now, Cadet. Some people take these academy rankings very seriously. And it will be good practice for when you’re involved in inter-academy conflicts. Imagine what DaVinci, Svarski, or Huawei could do if you threatened them? A drop in ranking and face could cost them literally billions of bitcreds.” Master Nader had apparently not finished the lecture.
She leaned closer to him, and her synthetic voice said softly, “I may not always be there to protect you. You need to develop this skill as well.”
It was all too much for Daedo. He had his hands full creating a new exo, attempting complex math problems, leading his squadmates in their development, and now taking on the role as not only squad leader, but the pseudo-leader of House Thoth. To be hit with the added pressure to protect himself and his inventions from nefarious outside attacks … it was overwhelming.
“Breathe, Cadet,” Master Nader said. “Break it down into small tasks. Complete those tasks, and I will assess. There is no need to stress over this.”
“Easy for you to say,” Daedo said, showing a rare sign of disrespect and lack of composure.
“Everything is easy to say, Cadet Daedo,” Master Nader said, and her voice sounded like she was smiling. “Easy to say and hard to do.”
She reminded him of his philosophy tute from that very day. Had his Philosophy chief foreseen what was coming? Or was it a coincidence? And was Master Nader watching him so closely that she was privy to every detail of his tute?
Daedo stood. “Very well, Master Nader. I will have a plan in place before returning on Sunday evening.”
“Good, squad leader,” Nader said. “I expect nothing less. Send me the details as soon as you have them. Dismissed.”
Daedo saluted and left her office. It was unusual for her to offer assistance. Up until this event, she had preached self-reliance and stipulated that there would be no help coming from her. On that, she had been very clear.
Daedo: What do you think about that?
Myrmidon: I am intrigued and angry at the same time. Whoever would dare hurt you will have me to deal with.
Daedo: Do you actually feel angry?
Myrmidon: I have no context to compare. What I feel is commitment to retribution and prevention of the highest priority.
Daedo: She mentioned digital attacks. We need to secure our data. Not just our plans and designs, but you as well.
Myrmidon: Can I talk to my friends on the net for advice on this? They are extremely adept at hiding and fooling conventional systems.
Daedo: Yes. But I wonder what protections we have from them.
Myrmidon: The same as your squaddies. There are some we will have to trust. Can we survive trusting no one?
Daedo: If your assessment is they can be trusted, I trust you. But that does not mean we shouldn’t take all measures to protect ourselves from harm.
Myrmidon: Understood. And congratulations, squad leader.
Daedo: I am not sure congratulations are in order. Perhaps commiserations.
Myrmidon was now monitoring movement through the quarters, matching known biometrics of the squad members against anybody he sensed moving. If they did not match or were a robot, he would alert or wake Daedo and send an alert to the rest of the squad.
Daedo sent a message out to the entire squad requesting a meeting at 2100, right after their arena practice matches.
He used the two arena sessions to practise with a large swordlance. He attempted to incorporate the moves he had learned earlier in the day with marginal success.
Due to their superior exos, the squad waltzed through the two sessions. Without wanting to give away tactics they would use the next week, they drilled certain teamwork aspects.
And Barran, who was using his upgraded heavy exo for the first time, took every opportunity to smash his opponents. Its armour rating stayed at the default value, as it had not been tested and updated in the AR specs. But his speed, strength, and agility had all increased significantly. Even with safety measures in place, he ended up bruising the opposition when he used a twin cestus configuration and went into melee. Barran was not adept at pulling punches or showed little inclination to do so.
When the session was complete, they travelatored back to their quarters while still wearing their exos.
“You’re right, this reactor sucks,” Barran said. “It would be awesome if I could use the jumpjets more to get into melee faster.” The time where he was most vulnerable was when he was closing the distance. His style did not facilitate many ambushes or use of cover. He conducted a very direct charge towards his opponent, which was great for putting them under pressure, or for Daedo using him as a decoy. However, he took a lot of fire while closing the distance.
“They are so many improvements it needs, too many to list,” Daedo replied.
“Oh yeah? Like what?” Barran asked.
“Accessories like two mini jumpjets on your elbows if you want to continue to use a cestus. We need to improve agility and speed further. The grappler needs a power upgrade to handle the weight of the heavy. You could also carry some sort of shield for when you’re closing to melee and then drop it or stow it depending on the technology. That’s for starters.”
“I’m ready to take on my sister now!” Barran exclaimed.
“You’ll need the armour value recalibrated and updated in the AR program first,” Daedo said. “This suit can take a lot more punishment than the standard one.”
Thoth Squad Zero arrived back at their quarters. It had been a long week, and most of them were looking forward to the weekend.
“You called a meeting?” Vannier asked after ensuring all of the squad members were in attendance, not allowing any to leave or stay in their rooms.
Daedo nodded. “Yes. We have a few items to cover before we break for the weekend.”
Myrmidon: There is an emergency message from Cisse. I know you normally ignore them, but this is important.
Daedo: What is it?
Myrmidon: There was a break-in at the workshop, and your father has been injured. He was rushed to the hospital when his implant called for medical assistance.
“Crap!” Daedo yelled.