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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The smaller of the two topside arenas was lined with a kilometre of boxes situated above the stadium seating and terraced areas. The standard boxes were where most of the alumni, supporters, and parents socialized. It was in one of these boxes that a trader, Andre Mercia, a 2130 graduate of the Fortescue Military Academy, sat.
Andre glanced through the glass down onto the arena floor. The M1s were still finishing their first group matches, and usually, he would spend this time mixing and networking. But this year, M1 had some interesting cadets, and surprisingly, they were from Thoth.
The glass of the box acted as a HUD and AR overlay, with basic killboard stats and all the elements that came with an AR battle added in – from plasma bolts to art on the arena foam constructs.
Andre did have some fond memories of his time at the academy, and it had changed quite a lot since he attended almost twenty years ago. He could barely remember his own exo battles. And working as an independent trader, he rarely used the skills he’d learned, although the connections he had made were invaluable.
Although these days, his most valuable connections were with the Templars, a military-focused company with their own academy in Tier 3. And with zero guilt, he would submit a report on Fortescue after each and every tournament – a report that detailed equipment, strategy, and skill of the cadets. And when he wasn’t paying close attention to the M3 and U3 tier one matches, he would socialize and network in the Marais – or another – box.
It was business. Andre did not feel disloyal. He never liked the Fortescue Group and felt no qualms about sending reports to the Templars. They did pay him in creds for a report, and he was given preferred supplier status as a trader. Which meant that as long as he could get the right price for a deal, it was usually his. It was quite lucrative. And certainly worth the effort.
Sophie Marais was the CEO of Marais Industries, which specialized in the design and manufacture of carriers. Whether they were for military use or logistics, Marais took pride in the quality of their vehicles. Her husband, Cillian, was a talented engineer and head of the design team.
Both Andre and Sophie were from House Osiris and the same year level in the academy. He was always welcome in their box and usually took up the invitation.
“Ah, Andre,” Sophie said, approaching him. He was one of their most devoted supporters. She couldn’t remember him missing a tournament. She realized that it was part of his business to network, but he always followed the important matches closely, exchanging with Cillian all the finer points of the tactics and loadouts.
“It’s good to see you again, Sophie,” Andre said. “Thanks for having me.”
Sophie laughed. “Like I could deny my husband of your company. He would have no one to geek out with.”
Andre smiled. “Oh, I don’t know. Stanley Martin is in the military. He has insights that none of us lay people do.”
Sophie nodded and smiled politely. “But he is not always here. While you, sir, are steadfast.”
Sophie chatted with Andre for a while before moving on. As the host, she took her duty seriously to touch base with everyone. It was probably PR for Marais Industries, in a sense, and just as much a part of their business activities as it was for him.
Andre wanted to watch the most important match of the group. It was about to start, and fortunately, Cillian made his way to his side. His insights into their equipment would be valuable.
“My boy Jeram will have to watch out for that squad,” Cillian said as an introduction.
“What do you mean?” Andre asked.
Jeram was in M3 Squad One. He was in Osiris, as was his mother, while Cillian was from the equivalent of Thoth from another academy in Germany – Mercedes. Cillian wasn’t always a Marais, but he was certainly one now. Andre often wondered if the beautiful and talented Sophie married Cillian to strengthen her company. They were not so different, he and Sophie. They did what was required.
“This squad will be back tomorrow for tier one M3 group two,” Cillian stated succinctly.
Andre was surprised. Talented M2 squads going up a level was rare. M1 squads competing in M3 in term one was … it never happened. “Why am I just hearing about this?”
“I only just found out myself,” Cillian said. “We should probably pay more attention to the cadet commentary.”
Andre laughed. “No. I couldn’t stand the hours of slang and drivel to get one gem. It’s fine. “ He waved his hand, dismissing the chore. “Anything important will eventually come through to us.”
“They have a fairly standard formation for a Squad Zero – two, three, two,” Cillian observed.
“The Horus squad is lining up as four and four again, with mixed range loadouts,” Andre added.
“An outdated strategy. I guess everything old becomes new again at some stage,” Cillian surmised.
Andre shook his head. On previous form, Horus was going to lose and lose badly. That did not matter to him. He was now eager for more information on Thoth Squad Zero. That was exactly the sort of talent Templars wanted to know about. Some of the squad would prove troublesome in a couple of years, although it was possible Templars would be promoted out of Tier 3 by then.
“What do you think of their exos?” Andre asked. “Looking at the movement of the mediums and even the heavies, these things are good.”
“There is something different about them,” Cillian said. “It looks to me that the armour has not been sacrificed, yet they have more power while staying within reg size. I see a lot of mesh below the plates. The plates are actually quite thin.” He began to dig into killboard stats while Andre watched them run.
“The heavies are throwing caution to the wind,” Andre said. “You’d better watch now.”
Andre was warning Cillian to drop his investigation into the stats. He wouldn’t want to miss the action, as it was likely not to take long before one squad got on top. The Thoth heavies, their vanguard, were bearing down on Horus at a rapid pace.
“I’m not sure what their strategy is,” Andre admitted while he witnessed the heavies take on fire without dodging or attempting to use cover. They just charged at full speed.
“So quick!” Cillian breathed. “The taller cadet, he’s only M1, but he is good. And he’s in Thoth!”
“Barran,” Andre said. “Rings a bell.” He had heard the name before; the cadet’s family name or company.
“Did you see that leap!” Cillian exclaimed “He saved all his jumpjets for the last sixty metres. Surely he would leave some for a retreat.”
“I’m beginning to understand the strategy,” Andre said.
Cillian kept watching the match but said nothing, just waved his hand to indicate for Andre to share.
“A simple no-holds-barred approach,” Andre said. “Caution to the wind. From the vanguard, specifically.” Although Andre was not a technician in Cillian’s league, he had been watching, studying, and reporting on the matches for years.
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Cillian nodded. “The difference in equipment is massive. I’ve seen better exos, especially in the inter matches. But in this match, Thoth really doesn’t need much strategy. Just attack, attack, attack, and they’ll win.”
“So rather than inform the M3 squads they’re facing tomorrow of some of their tactics, they’re just brute-forcing it,” Andre observed. “Their leader is smart. Do you think their master is running the show?” It was possible the strategy was coming from the house master and not the squad itself.
“Master Nader. Don’t know much about him,” Cillian said. “He’s only been in the academy a few years, and this is the first as a master. He was AI chief in upper.”
“So a new master and a breakout squad for Thoth?” Andre said thoughtfully.
Cillian nodded. “New and different indeed. Stanley is going to love this tomorrow.”
Andre smiled. Stanley Martin was coming for the M3 matches and would offer more insights that he could use. Martin was a mech pilot for EU Defence – a career soldier or officer; whatever they thought of themselves. The standing defence forces got larger and more expensive to maintain every year. Andre sighed, thinking about the tax implications.
Reacting to and misinterpreting the sigh, Cillian asked, “You don’t like Stanley?”
Andre shook his head. “On the contrary. I love hearing his insights. I was sighing because he’s missing this today.”
“Good point. I’m sure I can send him a file dump of the match data. I’ll probably use their first match when they were serious. Or the Shu match later on. This one is rather brutally straightforward.”
“Ah, that first match was versus Osiris, and they didn’t kill a single Thoth,” Andre reminded Cillian.
“He doesn’t care about Osiris,” Cillian said with a shake of his head. “He cares about good performances and the academy being promoted.”
Andre watched as the two heavies finished off the first group of four Horus cadets. Surprisingly, they were both still standing. They even took on some friendly fire from the mids and long-range Thoth support.
“I really like how Horus is dodging and attacking the vanguard with everything they have,” Cillian said. “All the while, they’ve taken more damage from the mids and longs.”
“Understandable; there are five cadets from that group,” Andre said.
“Each. The vanguard has done less than thirty per cent of the damage.”
Andre whistled. He would have never guessed that looking at the mayhem.
“The long-range is even past the mid in damage output,” Cillian added.
“The mids are primarily AoE, aren’t they?”
“That’s probably why. They held back with the grenade launchers.”
“Mostly. There was still some friendly fire.”
“That’s par for the course for a melee vanguard.”
“Where did they get their exos from? Are they a new design?” Andre knew that Cillian didn’t know the answer. But if prompted, he might find out for tomorrow.
Cillian shrugged. “It’s hard to tell by looking at them. But if I were to guess, I would say …” He brought up some close-ups of the movements of the mediums and heavies. He moved the vid forward and reverse, making the holo perform a little dance. Then he moved the camera around the cadets to see from different angles. “Yes, there is something I haven’t seen before going on here. They are good – extraordinary for an M1 squad.
“Now I’m not surprised they qualified for M3, with the way they’re taking these other M1 squads down. Steamrolling them. It’s what you would expect from an M3 squad if they were competing with M1.” He clapped his hands together once and beamed. “I am so looking forward to tomorrow.”
“I’d hope so,” Sophie interjected. “Our son is competing tomorrow.” She kissed him on the cheek and walked on to another group of spectators.
And with that, the last four Horus cadets went down under a barrage of long and medium-ranged fire as they focused on the rushing Thoth heavies. When the last Thoth heavy fell, only one Horus was still standing, and that cadet only lasted a few more seconds.
Thoth Squad Zero (2) def Horus Squad Two
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The squad leader of Horus Squad Two texted Daedo.
Moreau: So much for going easy on us.
Daedo: We tried, but we aren’t very good at going easy.
Moreau: (laughter) Good luck tomorrow.
Daedo: You too for Wednesday. All you have to do is win your remaining matches and you are through.
Moreau: Oh, that confident you’ll win all yours?
Daedo: Yes.
Moreau: (laughter) I think you’re right. You totally pwned us.
Moreau ended the conversation with the usual “bye” animation.
Myrmidon: You’re talking to the enemy.
Daedo: She started it.
Myrmidon: You are changing. First talking to teammates and now the enemy!
Daedo: A bit of a worry isn’t it?
Myrmidon: I am not sure what group to put her in now.
Daedo: Then make another group: ‘unsure.’
Myrmidon: Easier said than done. I would have to create a set of rules on how to deal with this group.
Daedo: At the moment, she is an enemy. In the future, she may be an ally. The rest of the categorisation is up to you.
Myrmidon: How many people do you have in ‘unsure?’
Daedo: Nearly all of them.
The members of Thoth Squad Zero were back in their house room. They had one match left against Shu. Even if they lost, they would go through, but they had no intention of losing.
“When is the other group?” Barran asked.
“Later today,” Vannier said.
The exo arena would be occupied for forty-eight hours over three days for all of the M1 to M3 tier group matches. It was a gruelling schedule if one wanted to watch them all, but very few did. That was sixty group matches in all. The semi-finals were much easier to consume. Only six semis and then three finals on Friday.
The attendance of adults would peak on Friday when they would watch all six tier one finals across M1 to U3. The exo arena was in the morning, and the mech arena held pride of place in the afternoon.
“How is the equipment holding up?” Gaumont asked.
Daedo, Mace, Axel-Zero, and Picard were checking everything. Daedo took responsibility for the exos; no one else understood them better than he did. Picard was responsible for the railgun weapons, and Axel-Zero and Mace had the accessories and other weapons such as the launcher. Vannier was free to look after morale and anything else that might crop up. Such as unannounced visits.
Master Nader entered the room with an unknown adult on her heels. She sent Daedo a somewhat cryptic message.
Nader: Yes or no?
He looked past her. It was no one he knew. He shrugged. “We’re completing an equipment check. We still have one match left, in about forty minutes.”
She nodded. “This is Cillian Marais of Marais Industries. Out of the sixty requests sent to me for an inspection and introduction, I accepted only this one.”
Master Nader gave the weirdest introduction Cillian had ever received in his forty-year life. Which was only heightened by his robotic voice.
Cillian found himself bowing in gratitude. He wasn’t an arrogant man, but he didn’t usually bow to house masters and thirteen-year-old cadets either.
Vannier spoke up. “Master Nader has that effect on people. Please,” she said, indicating that bowing was not necessary. She shook his hand and introduced the squad politely.
Daedo smiled. She was doing her job perfectly. The crap stuff.
“Forty minutes?” Cillian said. “Do you want me to come back later, after the last match?”
Vannier shook her head before Master Nader could rudely say something like, ‘We wouldn’t have let you in if that was our determination.’
“No, no it’s fine,” she said. “We’re not really pressured or anxious. Even if it is Shu, and they are very skilful, our equipment gives us too much of an advantage over them.”
“I know. That’s why I asked if I could visit your house staging room,” Cillian said excitedly. “Where did you get all your equipment?” He knew that to purchase everything would have been expensive. It would also take skill to change out parts and even decide what to buy.
“We designed and built it all,” Vannier said. Which wasn’t exactly true. They did purchase fluids, micropumps, and other parts. She just didn’t want to go into detail.
“All?” Cillian asked in disbelief. After a long pause, he said, “You are M1 term one?”
“Yes,” Vannier said, answering the rhetorical question politely and succinctly while offering no explanation. In her mind, none was needed.
“Can I take a closer look at the exo?” Cillian asked meekly.
Vannier did not even look at Daedo. “I am sorry, sir. That is not permitted until our patent is in place.”
Cillian took two steps back. He showed his palms, indicating he had no intention to steal any IP. He was astounded that it even occurred to the cadets. He thought about what he’d been like at thirteen. He was sure it was nothing like this.
Myrmidon showed Daedo a short vid.
Myrmidon: Our first day we met Jeram Marais. This is his father and Chief Technical Officer of Marais Industries. They manufacture the mech and exo carriers as well as many types of logistical vehicles, VTOL craft included.
Myrmidon then showed Daedo some product sheets. As the vehicles flashed by, Daedo remembered the encounter Myrmidon had mentioned. Despite being in M3 and Squad One, Jeram had been friendly to an unknown M1 cadet. From what Daedo had learned since that encounter through experience and behavioural study, that spoke volumes about Jeram’s character. Either that, or he was a genius manipulator.
Daedo: Tell him to visit our workshop after we get the patent. I think he is a good guy.
Vannier: Okay.
“Sir?” Vannier said, “would you like to visit our workshop after the patent lodgement is confirmed?”
Cillian beamed. “Oh, very much!” He paused a moment. “You have your own workshop inside the academy?” It was his understanding from Jeram that each house – not squad – had its own workshop. But this was Thoth. It was possible they received special treatment when it came to the engineering arts.
“No, sir,” Vannier said. “We have an off-campus workshop.”
Daedo finished his inspection and repair of the exos. He only had to change over a few micropumps. He checked the current match, and the one proceeding theirs had not started. They had twenty minutes at least.
Cillian was surprised, and it showed on his face. Before he could ask more questions, Master Nader intervened. “It’s time to leave the cadets to plan their next match,” she intoned with her robotic voice.
Cillian was not upset. The master was quite right. He felt fortunate to be allowed this close. He was looking forward to when he would be able to visit them in the future. The inner workings of the exo were intriguing. The fact that the cadets were patenting it meant it was of their own invention and was a sufficiently new innovation or technique. If the exo had been intriguing, the cadets themselves were fascinating.
He said his farewells and left the way he came. Andre was going to be ecstatic about what he’d been able to find out.