House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero
M1 Rank: 1/1275
Term: 1, Round: 2
----------------------------------------
Daedo had just finished another melee training session with Picard and Mace. They predominately used bo staffs during their sessions, but Picard liked to mix it up. Sometimes they just went hand-to-hand, and other times they used a kendo shinai.
After each session, he came out bruised, and on one particular afternoon, he had to go and get magic spray from the infirmary or risk losing the use of his right arm for an indefinite amount of time.
“Are you enjoying this training yet?” Picard asked, beaming. It seemed she absolutely loved beating the crap out of him.
He winced. “Ah, no, but I see it as necessary.”
“What weights are you up to on the obstacle course?” she asked.
“Ten kilos. It’s enough for me; it’s still a twenty per cent increase in my weight.” It was the third time that week that Daedo had answered the same question from Picard. She seemed to be prompting him to take on heavier weights.
“Fair enough,” she said. “You know your body the best.”
“Really? I thought the plethora of internal sensors and thousands of data points with an expert’s analysis would give me a better understanding.”
“Oh, sass from the Daedo!” Picard said jovially.
Daedo just looked at her. He was serious.
The cadets knew each other’s routines quite well. It was the fourth week, and they attended as many activities together as possible. Activities like the gym or meals could easily be done alone, but Squad Zero usually went as a group.
It was 1715 when they gathered in the M1 cafeteria for the last meal of the day. They did not pig out on the many delicacies available but stuck to their nutritional plans. While cadets from Squad Thirty sometimes acted like they were on holiday camp, Squad Zero was extremely professional.
Gaumont had changed his tune slightly and started attending one and then all three meals with the squad over the last couple of weeks. Whether it was from loneliness, boredom, or he just wanted to listen in for information, was anyone’s guess.
As usual during the meal, at least one interloper approached their table. These intruders ranged from aggressive idiots to idol worshipers and everything in between.
Three cadets from Thoth U1 Squad Zero approached their table.
“Hi,” said the rank one cadet, a tall, elegant girl who was probably sixteen.
It was unusual to see U-level cadets in the M1 cafeteria.
“I’m Barran,” she said, introducing herself. She was very pretty, and the only explanation for the common name and the fact that Barran wasn’t drooling was that this was his sister.
“I know who you are. Geez,” Barran said, annoyed. “Everyone, this is my sister Morganne. Don’t call her Barran; it’ll just get confusing.”
“I was Barran years before you entered the academy,” she said. “I’ve been waiting for you to come say hello. It’s nearly round three, and you haven’t ventured out of your little M section.”
Morganne Barran had blonde hair, like her brother, and most guys would have found her good-looking. Her hair was tied back in a bun showing off her perfect skin and bright eyes.
Barran just waved his hand as if none of that mattered.
“Other than visiting your brother, what brings you down here?” Vannier asked politely.
“Oh, we wanted to see the infamous M1 Squad Zero,” Morganne said. “Which one is Daedalus?”
“We all are,” Barran answered. He was referring to the fact that the company they owned was called Daedalus. His squad leader now went by Daedo and no longer by his CyberMech handle.
Morganne looked a little confused. She apparently didn’t know about her little brother’s venture and weekend activities.
“He is,” Gaumont said, pointing at Daedo.
She peered at Daedo, not unkindly. “Oh, I see. I recognise you from the streams. You really are the shortest in the squad.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll grow; he’s only twelve,” Picard answered for Daedo.
“Really?” Morganne glanced at her squadmates, and they all looked slightly surprised.
“Does he talk?” the male U1 asked.
Daedo finally spoke. “Sure.” But then he said nothing else.
Morganne laughed. “No wonder my little brother likes you. You have the same sense of humour!”
“Who are you calling little?” Barran objected. “I’ll be taller than you soon.”
“It’s not all about brawn, Brice,” she said, using his first name.
He laughed. “Yeah, I know. I have the beauty as well.”
“We have to run, so busy,” she said, making a show of wiping off sweat from her forehead. “If you think M1 is bad, you should try U1. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi, and since my brother is so uncouth, we had to come and find you.”
She and her coterie began to walk away.
But before they got far, she stopped and turned back to call out, “Oh, and thanks for making it harder for the rest of us Thoth. Now our master expects us to get into the top two at least.”
After his sister disappeared from their cafeteria, Barran said apologetically, “Ah, sorry about that.”
“Why are you apologizing for? It’s your sister!” Vannier said. “Of all the people who approach us, she is welcome.”
“Yeah, but the whole Daedalus thing.” Barran suddenly thought to mention something that had been bugging him. “Hey, Gaumont – don’t point out Daedo if someone wants to gawk at Daedalus. It makes me think you were the one who blabbed.”
“What!” Gaumont said, outraged at the accusation.
“It wasn’t him,” Mace said.
That caught everyone’s attention. Mace rarely spoke in group situations, and now there were a few stares her way. They were thinking, ‘Was it her?’
“We named our company Daedalus. That name had worldwide rights attached. It would not be difficult to work it out from there,” Mace explained.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“Especially since they were investigating us,” Axel-Zero said.
“Yeah, that was around the time of the break-in too,” Picard added.
Gaumont calmed down slightly. “I never did anything to hurt this squad. I wish you would stop treating me as an outsider.”
Vannier saw an opportunity she had been working towards. “Um, everyone, could you leave Daedo and me alone with Gaumont for a minute?”
The rest of the squad nodded. Barran didn’t look happy, but he hadn’t been happy with Gaumont for a long time. The girls would ignore him at worst but were usually polite. Barran could be outright rude.
After the rest of the squad vacated, the trio had the table to themselves. Although it was a public cafeteria, it was the most privacy they would usually get.
“Listen,” Gaumont began before Vannier could. She was happy to let him. “I haven’t done anything wrong, and I am sick of being treated like I’m not part of the squad.”
“Until recently, you have avoided all non-compulsory squad activities,” Vannier said quietly. “I am sorry Gaumont, but you’ve brought this upon yourself.”
He went red. “I had my reasons!” He did not make eye contact with either of them.
“I have a solution,” Daedo offered. “Well actually, the solution is that I do not have a solution.”
“What do you mean?” Vannier was confused. They were supposed to just get Gaumont to come to the workshop and to all activities, compulsory or not.
“Well, there’s this math problem I need help with. I cannot find the solution by myself, and I think if we work on it together, we might be able to succeed.”
Gaumont seemed genuinely interested. “Which one?”
“The zero-point radiation problem,” Daedo said. “The equation that gives the reactive state variable.”
“Damn, I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“I have some workings, but I’m stuck. This equation is important to Daedalus – the company. If we can solve this problem, it will bring us a lot closer to building a viable ZPE reactor.”
“Holy shit!” Gaumont exclaimed.
“Here is my offer, one which I think I can get approved,” Daedo said. “You help me with this equation, and if we solve it, the solution goes to Daedalus. To reimburse your efforts, Daedalus will issue you 250 shares. This way, if it becomes mega-rich from the discovery, you will benefit from it forever.”
“How much is 250 shares?” Gaumont asked. “I don’t mean to be an ass, but that could be like 0.0001 per cent for all I know.”
“It’s a little under 2.5 per cent,” Daedo said.
Gaumont frowned. “That’s not much.”
Vannier scoffed.
“It’s relative,” Daedo said. “Everyone else put in creds with no thought of recompense other than the workshop. And there is no guarantee the equation will eventuate in a ZPE reactor; it’s only a small part of it. If you solved it and gave it to the academy, you would get nothing except a good grade. Then there is the point that you are helping me solve it; it’s not like you’ll do it alone. This is an opportunity for you to become a real part of the squad and Daedalus.”
“What if we don’t solve the equation?” Gaumont asked.
“Then at least you will be more involved. You will come to the workshop every weekend, you will come to all group PT sessions, and you will be working with me on this equation. Even if we don’t solve it, we can work on other projects together, and you will no longer be on the outside.”
“I think this is a terrific solution,” Vannier said encouragingly. Her admiration for Daedo grew another notch. She respected his leadership. It wasn’t yelling or running out in front; it was more like a strategic incision of logic when needed. He didn’t often lead. But when he did, it was impressive.
“Let me think about it,” Gaumont said.
Daedo nodded. Vannier almost fainted.
She sent Daedo a text, which quickly turned into muted comms, as they travelated to their nightly sessions of the Gauntlet and arena exo combat.
Vannier: I can’t believe him. Why would he not accept immediately? I almost want to say, ‘Stuff you! We’ll find another seventh member.’
Daedo: If he says no we can talk to Master Nader. But I understand he needs time to consider. This is not a negative action; he’s taking it very seriously and will give it deep thought. You know, I probably understand Gaumont better than any of our squad members.
Vannier: I’m glad you do!
Daedo: We’re almost at the end of round two. We have version two of our light exo. It’s time to crush the Gauntlet.
Vannier: I know, you’re languishing again. You make me nervous leaving it to the last minute.
Daedo: The NPCs are not readily predictable. I have to run many tests and scenarios before I come up with the right strategy.
Vannier: You know you cannot do that in real combat. You’ll get one shot at it, and if you lose, you’re probably dead.
Daedo: I didn’t design this system. I am working it. There is a valid reason it’s helpful. If I ever come up against a similar situation in the real world, I will have workshopped the best strategies.
Vannier: True, I never thought of it like that.
Daedo: Everything with the academy’s training is well thought out. Many activities have multiple layers of benefits or hidden challenges. They didn’t even tell us to upgrade our exos. Not directly.
Vannier: Yeah, they just supply garbage which makes you want to upgrade it.
Daedo: Speaking of upgrades, how are you going with your railgun?
Vannier: We don’t have time now. We’re here. Let’s talk after 2200.
----------------------------------------
Karine Fortescue paced outside the arena. There were only two days left before the end of round two and Daedo had smashed their Gauntlet scores again. What was worse, Thoth Squad Zero now occupied four of the top ten rankings and the top two.
“How the hell did they do this?” Paget-L said angrily. “His and that Mace chick’s scores are off the charts. And he bloody left it until the last couple of days again. Is he taunting us?”
Paget-L had been pushed out of the top ten by Daedo. She was holding down tenth until he ran the Gauntlet tonight.
“I think they’ve improved the speed of their exos again,” Raoult said.
Fortescue’s inner circle of the Paget twins and Raoult were discussing the events as she paced. Their words reflected her thoughts somewhat.
“Should we consider a lighter exo for the Gauntlet?” Paget-A asked. “More than sixty per cent of Daedo’s and Mace’s scores comes from their time.”
The Paget twins had the same face, height, and body shape. But that was where the similarities ended. Lola Paget had closely cropped blond hair and was volatile and aggressive. Although her initial was ‘L,’ most thought of her as ‘Angry Paget,’ or ‘Aggressive Paget.’
Aline Paget had medium length auburn hair, the same small frame as her twin, and the same face. However, she was calm and strategic. She excelled in academic studies and was probably the smartest in Horus Squad Zero. Only Fortescue outranked her, and that could be put down to her long and thorough preparation before entering the academy. The jury was still out who was the brighter cadet.
“I am beginning to think the same,” Raoult said. “There was no way I could catch Mace during that match. Out of the exos, I smash her in a sprint or on the obstacle course. But in that modified light, with me in a heavy, I had no chance.”
Fortescue had heard all this before. The Gauntlet rankings and Daedo beating their best score – hers by over a hundred points – were galling. His score was over twenty-five per cent better than hers. She would have thought it was impossible, but there it was on the ranking board.
“Can we borrow or copy the M3 exos?” Girard offered a suggestion meekly. He meant the Horus House Squad Zero M3 exos. It was a way of getting the best available, as they had been worked on and improved for over two years. It was also a way of improving without resorting to going outside Horus or Fortescue.
Fortescue sighed. “We already have their exo design. If anything, ours is slightly better.”
Her squad just looked at her, dumbfounded.
“What about Svarski, DaVinci, or Huawei?” Paget-L asked. “Can we purchase their gear?”
Fortescue was slightly angry at that suggestion. “We’re supposed to be raising Fortescue up, not borrowing from the top three. Anyway, they wouldn’t sell us anything remotely as good as their competitive exos. They compete in M-exo comps as well, remember?” She left out the part that the top three companies competed in Tier 1, not Tier 3. They all knew, so it was a redundant fact.
“So what do we do?” Raoult asked.
“I guess the only thing to do is have our techs work up the best light exo they possibly can,” Fortescue said. “Then, when it comes to the tournament, we can decide on the mix of light and heavies based on their effectiveness and our overall tactical formation.”
“How long will it take them?” Paget-A asked.
Fortescue sighed again. Their techs worked much slower than the Thoth cadets, which was inexplicable, but a fact. She could only surmise that Daedo had been working on light exo designs for some time before entering the academy. His purchase of a workshop in the first week was an indication of long-laid plans. He had only waited to receive funding from his squadmates.
She’d had Daedo and Daedalus investigated, mostly from publicly available information. She had not stooped to anything nefarious; she didn’t want to lower herself to that level.
“We’ll give them a deadline of week nine,” she finally said. “That will be enough time for round five Gauntlet and testing before the week ten tournament.”
Raoult groaned. That would mean they’d suffer defeat in round three and four of the Gauntlet as they had in round two.
“We should get Daedo into our squad,” Paget-A suggested.
Everyone stared daggers at her. It was as if she had suggested inviting Satan to join their squad.
Fortescue waved her hand, dismissing the idea. “It’s too late now. Even if I could swing it, I doubt he would agree.”
“Then get him kicked out,” Paget-L said.
Raoult looked at Lola and then at Aline. “How are you two even related?”
Fortescue hardened her resolve. “Categorically not. This is our first test. In fact, it is a good thing. First, we beat Thoth Zero, and then we will ready for the Tier 3 inter-academy tournaments.”
Paget-A tilted her head to the side and considered her squad leader. Surely Karine Fortescue could not be that dense. Perhaps she just had a blind spot when she was challenged unexpectantly.
There was one suggestion Aline Paget was not going to give Karine. She would just wait for her to work it out on her own. Their best should be joining with Daedo’s squad for the inter-academy tournaments. He was in their academy!