Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142
House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero
M1 Rank: 1/1275, Tier 3 M-Rank: Null
Term: 1, Round: 5
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Barran-M stood just outside the M1 Thoth Squad Zero quarters. The entire squad was gathered in the communal area waiting in expectation.
Axel-Zero had recovered fully. While the first aid spray wasn’t up to the task of repairing the sprain, the medical centre had fixed it in minutes. The cadets later found out there were medical staff and facilities at the arena. They attended all the matches. It had been a rookie mistake to take Axel-Zero down to the middle academy medical centre.
“Permission to enter,” Barran-M asked politely.
Before Daedo could reply, Barran yelled, “No!” and laughed at the look on his sister’s face.
“Granted,” Daedo said, ignoring Barran.
There was a vacant seat at the head of the communal table which Barran-M correctly assumed was for her and took it. The squad all sat after she did. Despite being in their quarters, there was a protocol to follow. Part of their studies and induction informed them of how to act in front of senior cadets. Especially ones with rank. Barran-M was the squad leader of U1 Thoth Squad Zero. She was literally Daedo’s counterpart in U1.
“We have much to discuss,” Barran-M began and spread her hands. A display appeared in the centre of the table. It was a document with the title ‘Meeting Agenda.’
Squad Zero was quiet. The cadets felt like fish out of water. Barran-M was organised on a completely different level. They didn’t take notes other than recording their tactics meetings or plans they had for their tech innovations. Not to mention that Myrmidon was able to regurgitate any piece of information Daedo ever needed. But the agenda was a nice touch to keep a meeting on track.
“I can tell from your silence that you are all anxious to find out what I came to talk about,” Barran-M said. “There are two very separate items, both of which came to me in the last few days.
“Let’s knock off the non-academy item first. Barran Corporation, and more precisely, my father – the CEO – and even my grandfather – the chairman – are aware, to an extent, of what you have created in Daedalus. When Brice was asked to report on his expenditure, which was impetuous even by his standards, his report stated that it was an investment of a lifetime. The high proportion of his disposable trust fund was used up and this statement forced the trust manager to do some digging.”
Barran received some looks. His bravado and reality were unsurprisingly two separate things.
“After the first report from the investigation came through to Brice’s trust fund manager, it was forwarded to his manager in turn, then to my mother, and lastly to my father.” Barran-M glanced at her brother and said as an aside, “You have outdone yourself this time. That is quite an achievement.”
She looked back at the rest of them. “In summary, the amount of activity in patents and inventions was impressive. Which brings us to the first item we need to discuss.” She paused for effect.
“Barran Corporation would like to support Daedalus. They sent me to begin a discussion so you wouldn’t be spooked. But it is that important to us that my father would have come.”
Barran slumped in his chair. He mouthed the words, ‘Leave me alone,’ to no one in the room, just the adults who were not attending the meeting.
To Morganne Barran’s left sat Daedo, and to her right sat Vannier, across from Daedo. The Squad Zero members lined the table away from her in their own order. Next to Daedo was Mace, then Picard, and lastly Gaumont. On the other side was Axel-Zero and then Barran. The end of the table was attached to a wall, which was used for utensil storage or a display. Because they spread out when studying, the table was large enough for twice as many cadets.
“Ah. This is surprising,” Vannier said, looking at Daedo. “What sort of support was Barran Corp. proposing?”
“In short, services and financial support,” Morganne Barran said. “It’s sudden, so we wanted to give you time and space to think on things. There is no rush.”
Barran stood up. “Bullshit, there is no rush. You’re just playing nice to ingratiate yourself. Next, you’ll want to have Daedalus tied up so no one else can swoop in and take it off you. Let me tell you, Sis. No. The answer is no. Get lost. We don’t need your help. And father needn’t worry that Barran Corp. is missing out on something, as I own nearly twenty per cent. It’s a massive stake holding with only Daedo possessing more. And we won’t let anyone else buy us either.”
He looked at Vannier, Axel-Zero, and Mace and bawled, “You see why I didn’t ask my family’s company for help? Unlike your families, who gave heaps of help for free, my family looks for opportunity – how much they can gain. The next step would be Morganne becoming very friendly with Daedo! And you know what I mean by ‘friendly!’”
None of the squad had seen Barran unhinged like this. He was forever effervescent, confident, and carefree.
Daedo did not want to commit to an opinion. There was clearly much more going on here than appeared on the surface, so he merely nodded at Vannier.
Vannier cleared her throat, then waited for Barran to be quiet and sit back down.
Barran glanced at Daedo who merely smiled and nodded to his chair. Finally, Barran sat and stared down at the table. It was obvious he was still smouldering, but he remained quiet and made eye contact with no one else.
Vannier said, “I think that before discussions can even begin between Daedalus and Barran Corporation, we will need to have our own internal conversation.”
Morganne sent a quick text to her brother.
Morganne: I can’t believe you would sink us singlehandedly like that. Thanks a lot, Brother. This will be reported.
However, she seemed unruffled on the surface. Surely the derailment of the first item in such a dramatic fashion would affect her. But she merely moved to the second item.
“Let’s move family business aside, put it in a box, and lock it away,” she said. “The main reason I’m here is because Master Nader invited me to review all aspects of your operations next term. And to begin with, I have to review your tactics and outcomes from your upcoming matches in M3 tier one.”
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Barran moaned and mumbled, “No, Master Nader, no.”
“You may not know this, but if you were to have a mentor, it was going to be me,” Morganne continued smoothly. “Master Nader believes a mentor would be counterproductive to your leadership development, and I would have to agree. However, the master thinks consistent reviews with recommendations could be of assistance. You can read the reviews and improve your methods, or you can throw them away as drivel. Entirely up to you.”
Vannier said, “Does Master Nader know about your conflict of interest?”
“I am certain she does now,” Morganne said before adding, “Maybe your master expects you to deal with that as part of your training and growth.”
“I have one question,” Daedo said suddenly, making everyone jump.
Morganne directed her gaze upon the diminutive genius. “Hmm?”
“Does Barran Corp. own any space on The Spiral?” he asked, surprising everyone again.
After a moment’s hesitation, Morganne Barran said, “No. It is too expensive for the risk involved. It did not meet our ROI criteria.”
Daedo gave Vannier a look that spoke volumes. We’re not interested if you don’t possess a berth on The Spiral.
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Morganne Barran had left Squad Zero’s quarters. Barran was stomping around speaking nonsensically, but his overall message was clear: Daedalus should stay independent. Barran Corp. has nothing to offer us; they just wanted to leach off our success.
Vannier sent Daedo, Mace, and Axel-Zero a text while Barran was raging.
Vannier: At least we know where his loyalty lies. It would be hard for me to choose between family and Daedalus.
Axel-Zero: Hopefully our families don’t put us in that position.
Daedo: You won’t have to choose. All I would ask is that if your family wants to hurt us, you stand in their way. And the same goes for the other way around. Stop Daedalus from hurting your family. Not that we would ever intend to.
Vannier approached Barran after he cooled somewhat and tried to console him. “Thank you, Barran, for protecting us. But don’t be so upset. We can handle it.”
“You have no idea what they’re capable of. And I hope you never find out,” Barran said sadly. He was showing a different side they had never seen; a vulnerability that never appeared even in the face of tremendous odds.
Daedo brought everyone together to continue the discussion and create a plan of action. Or reaction. “We may get a few companies attempting to ‘assist’ us with a view to taking us over. Especially if we’re successful.”
Mace added, “I think this is just the beginning. We should consider getting help. A business manager or similar.”
A few nodded. Barran and Picard looked doubtful.
Daedo looked at Vannier. “What do you think?”
Between Mace, Vannier, and himself, they could figure most things out. However, this problem was way out of his comfort zone. Daedo would prefer one of Chief Albert’s or Chief Vincent’s problems any day.
Vannier looked as lost as him. “I don’t know. If we had someone like Cisse or your father … someone we could trust … then I would say yes. But this position is the riskiest to fill. If we choose the wrong person, we may as well give all our work away now.”
“That settles it,” Daedo said. “Until we find someone we can trust with our lives, who trusts us with theirs, we do nothing. We run it ourselves and resist all outside attempts to purchase shares. We’ll just have to raise any bitcreds we need to continue ourselves.”
“What about taxes, licenses, tariffs, property-related costs, and other things I can’t think of?” Gaumont asked.
“He’s right – they could undo us as easily as a predatory company,” Barran said.
“Then we get three accountants to offer advice, show us what costs we need to allow and what we should do,” Daedo said. “We analyse that information for consistency and apply. If there is one thing we can handle, it’s math. We just need to know the rules we’re dealing with.”
“Let’s do that in the break between term one and two,” Vannier suggested. “We’ll have a couple of weeks to get everything in order.”
“I have a concern,” Axel-Zero said. “Why did Master Nader invite Barran-M to inspect and review our work? And now that she knows there’s a conflict of interest, will she allow it to continue?”
Daedo said, “Master Nader often does things to test us. It’s her way of forcing growth.”
The squad just stared at him, some aghast.
“It’s like … the obstacle course,” he said. “Most obstacles are there to increase your strength, stamina, balance, or coordination. Master Nader places obstacles in our path that have no purpose other than to make us stronger.”
With that explanation, he received nods all around.
Vannier stood up and looked at Barran. “Let’s go for a run together topside.”
He nodded and smiled weakly. It was obvious she was trying to cheer him up and calm him. If anything, it made him feel guilty for showing weakness.
Picard stood as well. She eyed Mace, Daedo, and Axel-Zero and said the magic words. “Bo staffs?”
The trio rose without answering. That left Gaumont, who glanced between the two groups. Vannier smiled and waved encouragingly for him to join her and Barran.
Barran recovered some of himself and said to Gaumont, “You’re cramping my style, kid.” To which he received four pairs of rolling eyes followed by relieved laughter from the entire squad.
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Each of the cadets held a short bo staff in a single hand. Picard and Mace were able to switch and use either hand, while Daedo and Axel-Zero still had a long way to go. Part of their training was to use each hand equally, but they did have one dominant.
Mace paired with Picard while Daedo paired with Axel-Zero. The training was aimed at improving their core strength, balance, coordination, stamina, and to train their bodies to move without thinking. The hand-to-hand training they did on weekends was purely for self-defence, where it was possible to transplant bo staff combat techniques to a swordlance used either with a mech or exo.
The reason they used single-handed short bo staffs was for that reason.
“I hate being the worst of the group,” Axel-Zero said between breaths while sparring with Daedo.
“I was quite thankful when you decided to join. That used to be me,” Daedo said truthfully.
“What are you doing in the holidays?” she asked, changing the topic.
“Oh.” Daedo looked thoughtful. “I’ll probably stay at the workshop and work on new projects.” He didn’t want to mention the reactor experiment with Cisse out loud. Especially considering the attention they were already drawing.
“What?” Axel-Zero said with concern. “Surely you need a break. You’ve been working nearly every waking moment since our orientation day.”
“No I haven’t,” he said.
“Yes, you have,” Axel-Zero argued as they clashed bo staves.
“I’ve been playing melee combat in here, going for runs, hand-to-hand training on the weekend, going to the gunnery range, and sleeping heaps!” he retorted.
“That’s training!” Axel-Zero declared emphatically.
“Yeah, but I have fun doing it,” Daedo explained. “The only thing that’s not fun is carrying extra weight through the obstacle course.”
“Is math fun?” Axel-Zero asked.
“When it works it is,” he said, meaning when he could form elegant or creative solutions. What wasn’t fun was failing to come up with any workable answer with the complex variable in the cosmic constant problem.
“You are crazy!” Axel-Zero yelled as she attacked Daedo with a vicious onslaught of blows.
Barely able to fend all her attacks off, Daedo began to consider whether he should do anything else on the break. “What are you doing?” he asked her.
“Spending time with my parents. Probably some shopping, going to the beach, and most important of all, relaxing! You do know what that word is don’t you?”
“No idea,” Daedo said. “Is it something like lazy?”
That remark earnt him a vicious swipe, which he predicted and countered with a three-move combo.
Daedo switched with Picard and asked Mace the same question in between earning bruises from the white-haired assassin.
“I’m up for spending time at the workshop,” she said. “My parents will want to see me, but they’re normally busy and travelling. I think they should come to Nanterre and visit us.”
She seemed to be working through her plan to force her parents to come to Paris rather than go home. From what Daedo knew, her parents travelled a lot between New York, Hong Kong, London, and where they lived in southern France.
“We should go see an amateur mech tournament if there’s one somewhere,” Axel-Zero said.
“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Daedo said.
“Depending on where it is,” Picard added. Picard thought that international travel would put the cost out of reach.
Daedo: Myrmidon, are you looking them up?
Myrmidon: Way ahead of you. There’s one in Germany at the end of the first week. It goes from Friday to Sunday. It’s in Munich.
“There’s one in Munich!” Daedo announced.
“Oh, we have to go,” Mace agreed.
“If we win the M1 tournament, Daedalus will pay for everyone,” Daedo said, trapping Picard.
Axel-Zero and Mace nodded agreement; they caught on to exactly what he was doing.
“I’ll let everyone know,” Axel-Zero said excitedly.
“All we have to do now is win M1,” Daedo said as he traded blows with Mace. She began to take it easy on him since the conversation started.
Picard managed to fend off Axel-Zero and send a back kick in Daedo’s direction.