Daedalus

by Skully

  “I would like to ask you what you got out of today?” Colonel Martin said.

  “We are only as strong as our weakest link,” Vannier replied, and she looked at Kang. “We must all do our best to help Kang catch up to us.” Despite the words being true and delivered without judgment Kang stared back at Vannier with intensity. The words hurt her pride and made her even more determined to show up these spoiled brats.

  “We need to work on our teamwork,” Axel-Zero said. “Daedo and Picard took down the demon wolf-soldier,” she said nodding at Picard’s father, “By working together, they were more than twice as strong than fighting individually.”

  Colonel Martin nodded at the Axel-Zero’s words. “Very good cadet.”

  “Shoot the demon wolf-soldier first,” Barran said smiling also nodding at Specialist Picard. At the time the trio did not know there was a difference, but they had thirty minutes to review the ambush before Daedo and Picard arrived at the safe zone.

  Colonel Martin looked to Mace who had yet to speak. “Before entering a battle find out as much as you can regarding the enemy and the environment,” Mace stated. Although Colonel Martin offered to answer questions, no one asked about the nature of their clawed opponents. Were they like an animal, were they sentient, did they have the ability to communicate across distances including everything from sensor capability to speed and stamina? The cadets were, however, limited to the information offered and assumed.

  Kang said, “If I had this mission again, I would fly over the village, send down a recon drone, and if no one was there, leave without gettin' off the feckin’ carrier.”

  Colonel Martin laughed, and specialist Picard chuckled. His soldiers looked on mystified, indicating this was a rare occurrence and out of character for a debriefing.

  “The regs were unaware half the squad aren’t rich kids, Sir,” Specialist Picard stated quietly looking at the First Class Soldiers. Kang spoke like a reg, unlike the rest of the squad, even when including her exotic accent. Plus, it should have been obvious who Cadet Picard’s parents were.

  The FCs weren’t regs they were the equivalent to squad leaders. ('regs' was short for the regular exo soldiers, whose designation was simply Soldier.) (now shown on page 54 so take out)

  Colonel Martin did not look happy. “Whether they come from a rich family or not, does not matter. We all bleed the same.” He spoke harshly, before stopping himself from saying more, as he obviously wanted to. Specialist Picard had opened a can of worms. He looked to the next cadet, Picard, wanting to change the subject.

  “We cannot let up on our training Sir, on all fronts. It served us well today. Tactical, AI nurturing, gunnery, fitness and melee combat,” Picard said with determination.

  He nodded, “You have done well Cadet Picard. I can see from your teamwork how your AI integration assisted your encounter with Specialist Picard. You are absolutely right that it is not just Physical Training; Combat and Gunnery skills are of prime importance.”

  Last of all, Colonel Martin looked to Daedo and waited expectantly.

  “We have a lot of work to do Sir. I lost five of my family today,” Daedo said with a fierceness that not only surprised the Colonel but Specialist Picard and all the soldiers present.

  The room was silent as the Colonel turned to his men. He stared at them in silence.

  One by one they hung their heads.

  It was not about the shame in losing, nor was it about underestimation of their opponents. It was in regards to what the Specialist said earlier.

  The regs wanted to hurt the cadets, and were looking forward to it with relish. These cadets had demonstrated that at thirteen they were warriors, real warriors, and not the spoiled brats the soldiers assumed them to be, who had pulled the strings of power to get an on-base exercise.

  There were other issues weighing on Daedo, and some of his squad could sense it now the exercise was over.

  Kang leaned close to Picard, whom she had formed a bond with, and whispered, “I thought all this family shit was just a line. Does he actually think that?”

  Picard had a tear in her eye which she wiped away. When it was just her and Daedo she had felt like this exercise was real and they were literally running for their lives. And she had never beaten her father; Today, with Daedo, they had won. She didn’t have to answer Kang who at the sight of Picard whispered to herself, “Shit!”

  The Colonel wrapped up the debriefing and tour with a couple of hours of basic mech control. They had eight mechs in the evac zone. One of which was his plus seven loaners for the cadets. The range was the perfect place to go for a run in a mech with its wide open spaces.

  ◆◆◆

  “What’s on your mind? I can tell something is bugging you.” Vannier asked Daedo on the trip back to their workshop. The carrier was bumping and jostling as they sat strapped into the rear cabin.

  Daedo looked up and down the squad line. There was no way he could tell them about the weekly technology dump he took from Master Nader's mystery box.

  Each week he delivered a minor breakthrough to Cisse. He was keeping the major ones in the box, for now. It wasn’t the feeling of stolen technology which was the main issue. It was the unknown origin.

  He could only think of two possibilities; either Master Nader was an alien or an agent of aliens, or she was from the future and had time travelled back somehow.

  Nothing else could explain the depth, detail and spread of breakthroughs. Surely if she hacked DaVinci or Svarski for this technology, there would be signs of its use, which there certainly was not. There were no mundane explanations that held up to scrutiny.

  “The same dilemma, but every time we visit a place of significance there is another twist,” he said sadly.

  “What? What happened today? What did you see?” Axel-Zero asked concerned.

  “Myrmidon did some searching and sorting, and we worked out that the size of the EUDF is tiny compared to overall tax revenue. It’s only point three percent compared to the private military tax breaks which are a hundred times that number,” Daedo said.

  “The tax breaks aren’t directly related to the cost,” Barran said. “There is a schedule based on operational mechs, exos, pilots and soldiers. And the EUDF has an air force as well doesn’t it?”

  “Even if the costs and tax incentives aren’t identical there is still a massive gap. And the tax incentive will be indicative of the size of the Private Military,” Axel-Zero said.

  “But if most of the Private Military leave, it leaves Europe and Africa woefully under-defended,” Daedo stated.

  “Why do we even care?” Kang asked.

  Picard put a hand on her shoulder and said kindly, “You’ve only just joined, and a lot has happened. I’ll show you some recordings from last term and the break.” Kang shrugged off her hand as if it made her uncomfortable, but she nodded.

  “You’re in Squad Zero now Kang,” Barran said seriously. “We care!”

  It was almost believable. Barran signed up to all of Daedo’s theories without much critical independent thought. He had decided that he was along for the ride and was enjoying it thus far.

  The squad was quiet for a time before Mace announced, “Some companies that own large Private Militaries might not have space on the spiral.”

  Daedo looked at her recognising the important factor, “You’re right! I never thought of that. Axel-Zero, can you run the numbers on Private Militaries; ones with spiral shares and ones without and the size of their tax incentives? This will give us a breakdown of who is theoretically staying and who is theoretically going. And the number of relative military assets from each group.”

  “See! Talking about it was a good thing,” Vannier said to Daedo kindly. “We are better when we put our heads together.”

  “You don’t have to take everything on yourself,” Mace stated firmly. She was slightly frustrated that Daedo would if not pushed.

  Daedo wished that were true when it came to the mystery box. He was sworn to sec
recy, and if he wanted to continue to take from it, it was a secret he had to keep. He wasn’t sure which was the bigger problem. An Alien invasion, in which the planet was unprepared and abandoned by the major corporations, or Master Nader and her mystery box of technology.

  “Is there something else?” Mace asked quietly.

  He shook his head without looking at her.

  She made a sound indicating she did not believe him.

  ◆◆◆

  It was Sunday evening, and the squad returned to the Academy for Round Three.

  “They will take you seriously now,” Barran said. “You beat them twice in the Gauntlet, and now Mace is in the top ten as well.” He was discussing the M3 cadets who formed the house captains committee. Daedo had a meeting with them in an hour to discuss the selection process and practice regime for the term three and four Inter-Academy league.

  Picard and Barran had done well in the first Gauntlet in which melee specialists excelled. Mace had turned the tables in the second Gauntlet which was back to tactics and mobility talented cadets becoming dominant.

  It showed the depth of talent in their squad when thirty squads in total had their exo they were still able to dominate M1. Not to mention place four cadets in the top thirty, relative to M3 scores, with two in the top ten.

  “Where is Kang?” Daedo asked. There was a squad meeting scheduled which needed to start immediately so he could make the M3 house captains meeting.

  “I’ll get her,” Picard said sternly. Kang should have known by now that punctuality was imperative with Daedalus and squad matters.

  Picard stood outside Kang’s room and yelled in a language Kang would understand, “Kang get your fecking arse out here now!” With the multitude of different comm systems available to the cadets, this was totally unnecessary, but it made Picard, who was Kang’s designated babysitter, feel better.

  The door opened, and Kang appeared rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Sorry, trying to perfect the powernap,” she stated honestly. They had a tough and full weekend, and a new round was about to begin. Kang had the distinct disadvantage of having to work twice as hard on all her Academy subjects just to catch up.

  Picard pulled her roughly towards the table, pushing her into a seat.

  Vannier looked on in empathy, “Sorry Kang. I know you are working hard, maybe we should have excused you from this meeting.”

  “Too friggin’ late now isn’t it,” Kang replied grumpily. She was working on her potty mouth, especially when on Academy grounds. She had made an agreement with Picard to substitute feckin with friggin which she was able to pull off most of the time now.

  “We’ll make this quick,” Daedo stated.

  Vannier took charge of the meeting, “We are now past the halfway point of the term, and we have decided to spend this round working on our weak areas at the expense of a few squad activities.” She waited for this to sink in and pulled up the squad schedule.

  “We will pull the Physical Training circuit at ten-thirty, and we are going to skip the M1 Thoth combined Piloting and Gunnery classes on Monday and Tuesday. The tactics review after Arena combat training will be shortened to thirty minutes.”

  “This will make add eight hours to everyone’s schedule which they can assign to the following areas,” Vannier stated before moving to individual lists.

  Kang – Academic progress, AI nurturing

  Mace – Chem Eng projects, AI nurturing

  Daedo – Exo design, AI tutoring

  Barran – Business deals, AI nurturing

  Axel-Zero – Finance, Drones, AI nurturing

  Picard – Melee weapon development, AI nurturing

  Vannier – Ranged weapon development, AI nurturing

  The squad made adjustments to their personal schedules and booked in AI sessions with Daedo and Myrmidon.

  The main reason for the change was to free up Kang’s time so she could catch up on her academics and once that was achieved, they could return to the group activities or institute new ones. Her performance with Physical Training, Gunnery and piloting was progressing with the training regimes in place, including the weekend activities.

  “Will there be any repercussions from missing the Chief’s sessions for Piloting and Gunnery?” Axel-Zero asked.

  Vannier shook her head, “I checked today with the regs and Master Nader.”

  “Okay, is that it?” Barran asked.

  “No,” Daedo said. “We need to discuss and agree on our position with the Inter-Academy league selection process.”

  The squad then discussed the agenda points from tonight’s upcoming House captain meeting. Daedo did not want to dictate how he approached a few key items. He wanted an agreement reached by the entire squad which would inform his position at the meeting.

  ◆◆◆

  Kalman was the M3TS0 squad leader and therefore Thoth Middle Academy House Captain. By round three he had not been replaced by Daedo despite efforts of some of the other house captains.

  Thoth now had two representatives at the meetings, and ironically it was Daedo who defended Kalman the most because it was his view was it was none of Amun-Ra, Shu, Horus or Osiris’ business who was the House captain for Thoth. That was a Thoth matter.

  On this point, he had won a vote and then had it excluded from further votes due to ineligibility of the body to make this decision.

  This fact did not protect Daedo from Kalman’s ire who greeted him in the corridor outside of the M3 cafeteria. “Greetings my lord,” Kalman said with his tone dripping with sarcasm.

  “House Captain Kalman,” Daedo deferentially saluted and greeted his senior from M3 in a professional manner.

  Kalman shook his head, “Don’t play games with me. I can see through all of your manipulations.”

  Daedo kept walking. “You give me too much credit. I wouldn’t know how to manipulate you.” A thought came to Daedo’s mind which he didn’t voice. He didn’t have red hair and boobs, so he wasn’t qualified to manipulate Kalman.

  “Your smirk says otherwise. Lack of control much?” Kalman accused as they approached the table.

  “It was a smile, and I apologise for smiling in your presence because there is nothing amusing about you, ” Daedo said sick of his senior's poor attitude.

  At the table sat Matthias who was talking to a member of his squad. Siderus, St Claire and Deimos were in the cafeteria approaching the designated table.

  Matthias looking at Daedo, said, “Ah if it isn’t Thoth's best and brightest!” He didn’t really care if Daedo lived or died, but he loved sticking it to Kalman. And in that vein, he turned to look at Kalman, “Oh you’re still coming to these?”

  “Eat a turd, Matthias,” Kalman bristled.

  Daedo had to wonder why Kalman thought he was manipulative and then allowed Matthias to do exactly that. Matthias was ensuring Kalman did not vote with Daedo as he didn’t want a Thoth block to form. By praising one and insulting the other, he drove a wedge between the two. It was classic divide and conquer, and Kalman was oblivious.

  “Keep it civil, can we?” Siderus asked before taking his seat.

  Matthias nodded, “Yes. Please, Kalman, keep your language civil. There are ladies present.” Matthias hit both of Kalman’s weaknesses; Daedo and Deimos, in seconds after his arrival. Daedo knew that this was not simple teasing. Matthias was almost an instructor when it came to manipulation, Daedo learned something from the elder cadet with every meeting.

  Myrmidon: This meatheads sledging is impressive.

  Daedo: Yes, he may look like a brute, but he is as good as Vannier with people, although his approach is the polar opposite of hers. He uses anger and other strong emotions to manipulate. We can learn a lot from him.

  Myrmidon: I am taking notes, but that part is lost on me. I can only see AAA sledging.

  Siderus began, “We are all here. I am assuming chair unless there are any objections.”

  “Not this week,” Matthias responded, unwilling to relinquish the chair for the en
tire term. “But I think we should rotate the chair from now on. Can we vote on that?”

  Siderus sighed. “No need to vote. I think it is a good proposal unless anyone disagrees?” He looked around the table and received silence in response.

  “First item,” Siderus began. “We need to decide on the squad for the first round of the league.”

  Chapter 10

  Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142

  House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero

  M1 Rank: 1/1275, Tier 3 M-Rank: Null

  Term: 2, Round: 3

  Daedalus Financial Position 170,000 bitcreds

  ◆◆◆

  The air surrounding the table became heavy. These cadets took the Inter-Academy tournament very seriously. In the circles of the rich, powerful and sometimes famous, it was considered an honour to the family if one of their own competed and succeeded in the Inter-Academy league.

  This honour was a double-edged sword; a cadet could easily embarrass their family if they were glorified upon selection only to perform poorly. The pressure coming from families, and society in general, was immense. Where intra-academy tournaments were kept in-house, the league was broadcast planet-wide.

  It was a well-known fact that most people watched the tier one league with twenty-two matches in the second half of each year. There was also significant interest in tier two, three and even some in regards to the feeder leagues.

  While most of the world focused on the top three tiers of prestigious Academies' matches, numbering thirty-six in total, there were another eight groups which competed in regional leagues. The top eight academies from each of the regional leagues then participated in a fight to the death melee in order to achieve promotion into the solitary available tier three slot.

  Many Academies who dropped from tier three down into the regionals were never seen in the top tiers again. And the Academy which gained promotion from the regionals were often stronger than their competition in tier three due to the trial by fire they had to pass through.