Daedalus

by Skully

  Both sides were equally difficult, and neither could operate alone. Mace was more like her mother; she wasn’t able to secure leaks like her father could, but her skills were getting closer to her mother’s every day.

  The tunnel was in place. Mace checked all the protection measures she knew about and double checked to be sure she was hidden before uploading the rootkit. There would be no point uploading it if she were detected and it would mean a lot more legal trouble than merely snooping.

  She hid the rootkit amongst the massive amounts of media files, slowly uploading it a few bytes at a time. No security system would be able to detect the minute amount of traffic when it came to media, as that data fluctuated massively from second to second.

  The rootkit was in place, hidden within the executive's media files. Charles, as he was known, wouldn’t know what hit him. The last hurdle was executing the rootkit without detection. Mace checked the security systems, and she was worried. She was unsure whether it would go untraced. The IBA had high-level bespoke systems she had never seen.

  Mace: Mother, I need your help with something.

  Adele: Nice to hear from you, dear. Oh, I am fine. How are you?

  Mace: Sorry Mum, I know you're on assignment. I don’t like to intrude unless it's important.

  Adele: You mean, you’re always busy, and you don’t have time for your mother anymore, but I digress. I should be happy you contacted me. What do you need?

  Mace: I have a tunnel in place with an IBA executive. I landed the rootkit, I just need you to check if I can execute or if there is something that needs disabling first.

  Adele: Oh dear. The IBA? What are you kids into this time?

  Mace: They stole from us Mum. These assholes had us disqualified, so they didn’t have to pay out on a bet. You didn’t see the streams we put out?

  Adele: They went to all that trouble for a bet?

  Mace: It was over a 2mil cred payout, potentially 4.

  Adele: Oh… I see…I will help, on one condition.

  Mace: What Mum?

  Adele: Tell me the truth. You like that boy don’t you?

  Mace: MUM!

  Adele: Just don’t let it get in the way of your mission, Ameline.

  Silence...

  Adele: I’ll take that as a 'yes'. Send me the tunnel specs and address; I’ll take a quick look and disable the security for you.

  Mace: You need to show me what you do because I need to learn this.

  Adele: Very well, follow me!

  Mace’s mother, Adele, went into the IBA system. She quickly identified the lurking security systems, but she did not disable them. She created a compartment that was hidden from the security and ran the rootkit within it. Once the rootkit was activated she removed the compartment.

  Mace: Wow!

  Adele: Isolation is the key dear. If they can’t see you, they can’t detect you.

  Mace: Thanks, Mum.

  Adele: Don’t be a stranger. Even if we are separated by distance, we can always have a virtual get together every now and then. You can’t be that busy, surely!

  Mace: You have no idea.

  The rootkit was in place on Charles from the IBA who was the Senior Executive in charge of security ironically. Now all she had to do was wait while incriminating information flowed to them. A suitable opportunity would present itself sooner or later. She felt like a cat waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting rodent.

  Chapter 33

  Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142

  House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero

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

  Term: 3, Round: 1

  Daedalus Financial Position -1,460,000 bitcreds

  ◆◆◆

  “I’ve made up my mind,” Daedo said.

  “It’s not like you to be illogical,” Siderus stated.

  “Daedalus has done enough in delivering equipment for you and the upper cadets to get the job done,” Daedo said calmly. “And I will compete in the Gauntlet.”

  “That’s only one point per win,” Siderus said, “It hardly makes a difference.”

  “There are a total of sixteen points on offer with the Gauntlet each weekend,” Daedo stated. “It all adds up, and I can update the entire Gauntlet team on strategy as we go.”

  “Will you change your mind if we do poorly?” Siderus asked.

  “If you do poorly I can swap out the first entire team for mine,” Daedo threatened.

  Siderus looked at the younger cadet for a moment. He did not appear intimidated nor hurt by the statement, he looked to be searching Daedo’s thoughts.

  “I guess, no one is perfect,” he said dismissively before walking off.

  Exo practice was over for the week and only the weekend’s events would confirm whether their plans and forecasts held up to reality. Fortescue had home matches against Seoul Military Academy and Humboldt MA.

  The Fortescue review of competitor equipment capability had Seoul in rank three, near the top, and with Humboldt the only Academy below Fortescue themselves at twelfth. This review was completed before the current exos and mechs from Daedalus became available, but it also did not mean the competitors did not improve as well.

  Daedo spent most of Friday completing academic studies. The Inter-Academy preparation was all in place, and nothing could be done now to improve their chances for the weekend. Both visiting Academies would arrive on Saturday morning and leave Saturday evening after the six mech and exo matches, and the gauntlets had been completed. The battles were staggered in case repairs were needed, and the schedule also allowed spectators to watch all three exo matches and gauntlet before heading across to the mech arena in the afternoon.

  Daedo was in VR completing a human studies tute when Myrmidon popped in.

  “There is news at the mine,” Myrmidon said. “Aemo has a small arkernite sample for you. What shall he do with them? Do you want them back to the workshop?”

  Daedo closed the tute and asked, “What is the weight?”

  “Two point two kilograms.”

  Daedo thought for a moment. “No, we need more. Put it into storage, and he can ship it up once stage two begins and the ark is extracted.”

  “This material doesn’t appear on the table of elements,’ Myrmidon said. “Including the expanded and hypothetical series.”

  “It’s a new element,” Daedo said.

  “But you knew about it. We sent Aemo to look for it,” Myrmidon observed.

  “That is true. I learned about it from Master Nader during our meetings which you have been excluded. We will pretend we discovered it when setting up our base and mine,” Daedo stated.

  “Understood,” Myrmidon said.

  “This information is secret Myrmidon,” Daedo said.

  “Understood. I will instruct Aemo that he is to communicate nothing regarding our operations other than he finds it fulfilling to be working again.”

  Daedo nodded virtually. “Bring up the Math work for the term please. We will make more progress there than in human studies in the time we have left.”

  ◆◆◆

  Daedo and his squad waited and watched in the Marais box. The first exo match was about to begin.

  “Are you nervous?” Cillian asked the cadets.

  “I’m nervous,” Vannier said, “But I’m sure Daedo isn’t, he doesn’t get nervous.”

  Daedo didn’t respond; he merely looked down on proceedings.

  “All those years of high-pressure CyberMech tournaments cured him of nerves,” Axel-Zero added.

  “CyberMech?” Cillian asked.

  “You didn’t know?” Barran queried.

  “Father doesn’t know anything about CyberMech. Or anything that came out after the twenties for that matter,” Jeram informed them.

  “Oh, it’s a game?” Cillian asked.

  Barran laughed.

  “The teams are in the corral,” Daedo said.

  Fortescue Military Academy was up against Humboldt Military
Academy in the first match for the season. It was virtually rank eleven versus rank twelve, as ranked by the experts. If they could not win this match, it did not bode well for the season.

  “Is Colonel Martin not coming today?” Picard asked.

  “He is often too busy. He attends when he can,” Cillian stated.

  “And Andre?” Jeram asked.

  “He is usually busy the second half of the year. We see a lot of him during the intra-academy tournaments only,” Cillian said. “So you just have me today. Sophie and her team will entertain our business associates.”

  “Humboldt are slow,” Daedo stated. “And they have PPCs.”

  “This is good? Your aurora shield is working?” Jeram asked.

  “It’s on point, but I would have preferred to surprise a higher ranked team,” Daedo responded.

  “Why not message Siderus now not to use the Aurora shield against Humboldt,” Mace said.

  “We don’t know for certain that the top teams don’t already have information from our intra-academy matches. I’d rather them get maximum points versus Humboldt,” Daedo said.

  Siderus’ team fanned out across the desert map. Their tactical layout was two vanguards, three liberos and three long-range and they possessed the latest railguns with two shots per second.

  Consistent fire would draw more energy than the reactor could generate; a pilot would have to take care of power consumption and storage between the railgun, aurora shield and jumpjets. They were fantastic pieces of equipment which competed for the limited power resource.

  Humboldt must have been optimistic with an open map and a powerful weapon like the PPC. This optimism was shattered when the aurora shields blocked every particle bolt with the Fortescue Military Academy Inter Academy team running rampant over their opposition.

  Siderus maximised the advantage and did not allow the Vanguard into melee. They kept Humboldt at range until the match was over. The very first match and the exo team won with zero losses achieving the maximum thirty-two points.

  Next up was the Gauntlet and four cadets from Seoul and four from Humboldt lined up. Each cadet would complete the Gauntlet once, and their score would be compared individually against Fortescue. In effect, it was two competitions in one because Seoul and Humboldt were also competing against each other.

  Fortescue had the home ground advantage, and their first four cadets would complete the Gauntlet after the next match followed by four from Humboldt. This allowed Daedo to watch the same scenario he and his team would be running and make plans based on what he was witnessing.

  There were sixteen points on offer for the Gauntlet today. It was small compared to exo combat which was two matches worth thirty-two each. But it all added up in the end. The day’s possible total points were one hundred for each opponent. Sixty was allocated to upper and forty to lower.

  Points Allocation Max - per Match

  Upper Mech Combat, 52

  Upper Gauntlet, 8

  Middle Exo Combat, 32

  Middle Gauntlet, 8

  Max Round Total, 100

  Every weekend other than round ten was a double weekend and the last match of the year was a triple which meant that a total of two hundred points was on offer each weekend and, in all ten rounds, 2,200 points. The top team would usually reach a ratio of .75 to .80 of maximum points. And the bottom team was the antithesis of this. Which meant the bar to avoid relegation was at least 440 points, but that was an unrealistic bar to set. Fortescue’s first goal was 660 points. If they achieve this before the triple round ten, it would almost guarantee survival.

  Siderus’ and the middle academies thirty-two points against Humboldt was an excellent start towards this goal.

  Daedo watched the gauntlet from the Marais box and immediately made plans to share with his team. Unlike the intra-Academy Gauntlet, this was a team effort. The prize for first was one point, just like the prize for eighth. Between the two matches, Daedo and his team were competing in, were sixteen points.

  Joining Daedo from M1 Thoth Squad Zero were four cadets; Mace, Vannier, Barran and Picard. In addition to these five, were the three best performing cadets from M3 who weren’t in Siderus’ Arena Team.

  As Daedo went through the preliminaries, Barran spoke up, “I’m worried that following a plan will cramp my style.”

  “Do what you always do when taking out an enemy and moving, just follow this path rather than barging through,” Daedo replied.

  “And leaving certain groups alone,” Barran concentrated for a moment imagining how he would handle the Gauntlet without the instruction. “I probably would have kited them if they aggroed. Knowing they won’t aggro is an advantage.” Barran sparked up suddenly, “does this mean if I have your tactical plan, I will beat your time?”

  “You should,” Picard reprimanded slightly, “You won’t have any excuses if you don’t.”

  “It’s a team effort and the only thing that matters is that we get as many of the sixteen points on offer as we can,” Vannier added.

  The three M3 cadets sat in stark silence taking the information and banter in. They were aware of Daedo’s status and did not treat him like they would a normal M1 cadet. He had selected them for this team after all, and he was more like a captain-coach of the entire Fortescue Academy team.

  The upper Academy match was finally in progress, and all Fortescue cadets watched with bated breath.

  “They better win with those mechs,” Barran stated bluntly.

  “Agreed, I can’t see how we could have done more. Between Daedo, Kang and Mace’s innovations and designs that mech must be well above Seoul MA’s,” Vannier added.

  Mace added, “It’s not all about the equipment, it’s how you use it.” She peered at the teams as they started and dispersed.

  “We’re up next, do we need to head down now? Or will there be time after the match?” Daedo asked the three M3 cadets.

  “We can leave when the match finishes as it takes at least fifteen for minutes for setup,” Gannon stated. He was a relatively tall, dark-haired boy from Amun-Ra, tall compared to the M1 cadets and slightly above average for M3.

  “I forget how new you are,” Axel said. “This is your first Inter-Academy even as a spectator?”

  Daedo nodded.

  “I suppose most CyberMech pros pay little attention to the real thing,” Barran observed.

  “Real?” Vannier queried the word. “It’s still augmented, no live fire, the closest we have been to real is the training match with the EUDF.”

  The cadets focus returned to the match. An unholy image of Fortescue mechs going down assailed their eyes.

  “I can’t friggin believe it,” Barran said.

  “More armour, superior speed and they lose?” Picard said incredulously.

  “Seoul has six mechs still standing, that’s eight points,” Daedo said flatly.

  “Aren’t you angry?” Kang asked genuinely.

  “Raging?” Barran added.

  “Upset?” Vannier added.

  Daedo shrugged, “The league has a long way to go, and this is something we can improve.”

  Axel-Zero nodded understanding, “Which is way better than something we have no control of or way to improve.”

  “Yeah, but you should be livid for at least ten minutes before coming to that conclusion,” Barran interjected.

  Daedo looked at Barran and smiled shyly, “It is something I anticipated.”

  “What are we going to do?” Vannier asked seriously.

  Daedo turned to her, “We need to make our way down to the Gauntlet.” And as he set off the group followed. “Now we have the moral right to kick Romulus from the team entirely. Which will need to happen until he learns to follow orders.”

  “But he’s their best pilot,” Gannon spoke up courageously.

  Vannier shook her head, “He’s not if he brings the whole team down.”

  Picard nodded knowingly.

  Daedo turned as they reached their destination. “I w
ill go first and update the plans for third through eighth if needed. Sorry Mace, you will have to use what we have so far, as well.”

  Mace gave a cute salute. “No problem.”

  Daedo and Mace completed the Gauntlet beating all the scores from earlier attempts by Seoul and Humboldt MAs.

  “There’s still four to come from Seoul and Humboldt,” Daedo stated, “They will be watching us so put in the best time possible following the updated plan.”

  Barran nodded he was up next after Picard.

  As soon as she finished the three red lights appeared in the gateway which was previously barred.

  “Wish me luck,” Barran said to no one in particular, and he received five replies.

  One of which was from Picard, “You don’t need luck, use your skill and beat my score.”

  The three lights turned amber as the countdown reached single figures and as the lights turned green, Barran flew through the gate.

  The exo’s current power system allowed sixty percent jumpjet runtime when no other power systems were in operation. Due to the speed of the enemy and the scoring system part of the strategy, was to hammer the jumpjets which Barran did immediately. His AI ran them continuously at sixty percent power rather than cycle them on and off.

  The enemy was fast, faster than Barran’s exo at full speed. Kiting them was not possible. Each group consisted of four flying mechanoids which could join together and form a larger foe. A few cadets had lost one on one fights when facing two groups. It was important to take down any enemy before they could gather. A swarm equalled death.

  Barran took down the largest of the four mechanoids. This stopped them from combining and becoming a more dangerous foe. While firing his railgun dead centre at each of the mechanoids, he kept moving. Although they flew and were faster, he did his best to keep them out of range. At short range, they blasted off plates from their four leaf clover design.

  The gooey plates could stick you to the ground or a wall, and the mechanoids could drill or grind you down before you escaped. They were the nastiest foe he had ever faced in a gauntlet, exactly what you would expect of an inter-Academy match. Many cadets got low scores because they were only able to take down a few foes and only capture a single base.