by Skully
They sat in silence as the hovercar pulled up to the workshop.
Vannier was on alert, taking the security part of her role seriously. Daedo figured with the attacks on Lloyds, the confrontation with upper academy cadets on top of all other threats known and unknown it was better to be safe than sorry.
He entered Cisse’s lab and, fortunately, Vannier did not attempt to follow. It was a restricted area, and he didn’t have to remind her, not only that an attempt to follow him meant she had the motivation to find out what was going on. Putting aside curiosity, he did not want her to have any other type of motivation to discover what he was up to.
“Cisse,” Daedo called.
“Ah, you’re back,” she answered lifting off her helmet.
“The Arkernite arrived a couple of hours ago,” Daedo began.
“This is the new material the AI miner discovered at your Sahara mine?” Cisse asked.
“Yes. We named it Arkernite because it had similarities with Kernite and was found with it,” Daedo specified.
“And your initial analysis shows it has potential as a superconductor?” Cisse asked.
“Not the ore, but one of its mineral components. The one not found in Kernite,” Daedo answered. “Can you do some testing once father extracts it in the forge?”
“Sure, I will send him some schematics of what he turns it into for me,” Cisse said and then added, “Why don’t you just use it in your railgun?”
“Because power is much more important than a single weapon and we found limited quantities of Arkernite. I’d rather have much-improved particle control than a better railgun,” Daedo answered.
“You’re that confident?” Cisse asked.
“No, but we will find out,” Daedo answered, although he already knew the answer.
“Between the particle tracking breakthrough from the EUDF and, if this superconductor lives up to your expectations, we are making tremendous progress, far better than I would have dreamed, to be honest,” Cisse confessed.
“We don’t have time to mess around,” Daedo said. “I still think we need to work like an invasion is coming, even if there is little real evidence, and a new reactor could not only power mechs but ships as well.”
“If we can develop antimatter in a cost-effective way it would surpass plasma lithium as energy storage by many factors, that alone is a world-class breakthrough,” Cisse opined.
“Take care,” Daedo stated, “The invasion isn’t tomorrow, and we can’t afford an accident.”
Cisse nodded sadly. Daedo left out the word, ‘another’, but she felt it in her heart.
Chapter 36
Girls will come and go. But Physics will always be there
Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142
Inter-Academy Round 1 Fortescue Points: 95 Rank: 8
Tier 3 Daedo M-Rank: 155
Term: 3, Round: 2
Daedalus Financial Position +2,650,000 bitcreds
◆◆◆
Daedo was engrossed in a military history tute; the current subject was the Roman empire. When he compared the Romans to their enemies; the two main differences were technology and tactics and the only times the Roman’s lost a battle was due to the fact they were outsmarted. The difference in technology was overcome with superior tactics.
It was a very good lesson.
As part of their studies, they researched all the major successful ancient military regimes and information was sparse on some and biased on others. However, the underlying message and theme were always the same. Build a strong tribe and lead it well. Historians would have him believe leadership was more important than strength, but that was through their own bias. Where there was a chasm of technology, the more primitive tribe was always beaten in the long war. No matter how good their leadership, a great leader only prolonged their eventual demise.
Daedo began to wonder what the technological level of the so-called invasion force was. All he knew was they were genetically engineered to kill humanity. That could be something as simple as a virus.
He began to go off topic and studied introduced species which decimated the natural habitat.
Daedo: What do you think?
Myrmidon: Cane toads are amazing.
Daedo: No natural predators and the predators who did hunt them were incapable of getting past their natural defences.
Myrmidon: It is the same as when Europeans settled the American Continent.
Daedo: Except animals don’t bother with diplomacy, not that diplomacy made a difference in America nor Australasia.
Myrmidon: Meatheads lie. In this, they are very consistent.
Daedo: If we can’t find out what is coming then we will have to prepare for the worst.
Myrmidon: What will you do? Leave on a spaceship like the rich meatheads?
Daedo: Only if all is lost. We will fight at first. We will continue to develop the Eye of the Sahara base. Whenever there was an introduced species, the remote natural inhabitants lasted the longest.
Myrmidon: Message from Chief Vincent. Put it through or ignore?
Daedo sighed and agreed to take the interruption.
“Cadet Daedo,” Chief Vincent’s AI stated over the comms, “Can you attend the Chief at your earliest convenience.”
Chief Vincent was the Physics Chief, one of the subjects which Daedo excelled yet put in little effort other than his own studies based on his current projects.
After a few minutes navigating his way topside, Daedo arrived at the Physics Chief office. Where a few months ago he would worry about the nature of the meeting, now he gave it little thought. It was more of a distraction and interruption than anything.
“Enter,” the robot attended intoned as soon as he walked into the lobby.
The Chief’s office was the usual programmable room except on this occasion it was a mess of charts, equations, tables and schematics. They covered every inch of the room and, on many occasions, were three or four deep.
“Sit,” the Chief ordered tersely. Chief Vincent was an Academic first and teacher second. Most of his tutes were full of content but arrayed in a way which made it hard for most cadets to study. These cadets were forced to look elsewhere for tutes.
Daedo sat obediently and resisted the urge to don his helmet to continue some work while he waited.
“You know you are my top cadet,” Vincent began kindly.
Daedo nodded quietly recalling Chief Albert, and his attempts to get Daedo to solve problems for him.
“I was concerned with your latest submission, until I checked all your workings and suppositions,” Chief Vincent began.
“Which submission, Sir?” Daedo asked. He had sent three in order to get ahead for the term.
“Oh,” the Chief smiled, “your observations on quantum gravity and how they differ to the current model.”
Daedo twisted in his chair. The observations from the new particle tracking sensors provided by Master Nader’s mystery box were unavailable to anyone but him and Cisse. He let some of his learnings from their testing creep into his paper.
“Sir,” Daedo began carefully, “they are suppositions, nothing more.”
“But I think you are onto something here. I cross-referenced with the data from the Oregon Collider from last year and nothing they observed would prove your suppositions false.”
Daedo shrugged as there was nothing he could say.
“You should be ecstatic, cadet. I want you to expand on this paper and turn it into a fully-fledged academic white paper,” Chief Vincent announced.
“Ah Um. Sorry, Sir. I am too busy for that with my other commitments,” Daedo explained.
“Nonsense,” Chief Vincent replied. “I can wipe your other Physics commitments and give you extra credit. This is something that is usually in the domain of U2 and U3 cadets.”
“With all due respect, Sir,” Daedo began, and the Chief sighed. “I am captain of the inter-Academy team, and the responsibility for the team’s equipment lies
with me. This is on top of all my normal responsibilities. I already struggle to complete all normal study assignments.”
The Chief looked thoughtful. “There is another reason,” he said as he paced and tapped his chin.
Daedo’s heart began to beat faster. Chief Vincent was no fool.
The Chief suddenly whirled on Daedo and accused him, “You have a girlfriend don’t you!”
Daedo could not have been more stunned. His protest came too slow as he spluttered, “No!”
The Chief laughed and nodded knowingly. He looked Daedo in the eyes and with all sincerity stated, “Son, girls will come and go, but Physics will always be there.”
◆◆◆
“Why are you here?” Barran asked his father. He was standing in a small private box he had rented for the Templar's away match. His daughter, Morganne was also a spectator and fortunately, Barran’s mother was nowhere to be seen.
“I’m impressed you made the Gauntlet team. You’re only in M1. It’s quite a feat my boy,” Reece Barran CEO of Barran Corporation said patronisingly.
“I’m not a boy,” Barran said tersely.
Morganne couldn’t help but let a chuckle escape.
“Son, if you weren’t a boy you would have ignored that comment. You would not protest it loudly,” Reece said continuing his patronising tone.
Barran sighed, “Why are you here really?” He looked at his sister; she shrugged and smiled sweetly.
“I’d like to catch up with you. We hardly see each other anymore,” Reece stated.
“We never ever saw each other much!” Barran exclaimed throwing his arms wide.
“But, on the odd occasion, when I’m home from work early, you’re never around but you used to be,” Reece said with a tinge of sadness.
“Because, I, like Morganne, attend the Academy,” Barran said.
“Not on weekends,” Morganne observed.
Barran shook his head, “You know as well as anyone I spend my weekends at Daedalus.”
“Ah, how is that going,” Reece asked.
Barran grumbled that they baited him into that segue and they dared to call him childish. “It’s going great!” Barran stated giving zero actual information on purpose.
“You haven’t completed the reports like you promised,” Reece observed.
“I never promised a report,” Barran argued.
Reece reminded Barran, “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong. When you were given the capital from your trust fund by your trust fund manager you agreed to quarterly reports on the investment.”
Barran leaned closer to his father and breathed, “Oh, slick, now I know why you’re here. You read that correspondence in preparation. So much for caring about my performance in today’s match.”
“He was first in Round One,” Morganne stated.
“That is impressive,” Reece said.
“Out of three elite exo teams, it is something I never could have done,” Morganne admitted.
“You were on the team last year,” Barran said.
“Barely,” she breathed. “Exo piloting is not my strong suit.”
Barran stared at his sister. “Hardly seems like we need your review then, does it?”
She smiled showing off her pearly white teeth, something Barran himself did often when teasing or lowering tension. “Hardly,” she agreed with a tone that indicated otherwise.
“Since when are family treated like enemies?” His mother said loudly from behind Barran. She had entered and observed without him noticing, he was so focused on his father and Morganne.
Barran bowed his head to his mother. He wondered if Morganne would begin to be complimentary since she entered.
“Brice, dear,” she said softly, yet sternly, “you must put your family first in all matters. I am distressed by what I’ve been hearing.”
Brice Barran sighed. He now had his father the CEO, his formidable sister and his mother, Lady Alvia Barran arrayed against him. He’d been dreading this moment.
“Mother,” he said softly, “Daedalus is not against our family. It is merely a company I am running with my friends.”
“Why did you exclude your sister? That is not defensible Brice,” Lady Alvia said with her soft yet authoritative tone.
Morganne and his father had gone silent. He could barely hear them breathe. Their faces were expressionless. It was almost impossible to argue with his mother. His father and sister never did.
A tear appeared in Barran’s eye. “It is the family that has turned against me!” He blurted, and in the stunned silence he took a deep breath.
“This was my venture. But you want to butt in. It is doing well, and it does not threaten the family business in any way. Why can’t you trust me and let me succeed on my own?”
His mother shook her head slowly. “Because we share our successes, Brice. It was not your friends who stopped your sister from getting involved, it was you.”
“Because I knew where that was going!” Brice almost yelled.
His mother crossed her arms and merely looked down at him with her piercing blue eyes. Although Barran was tall, for his age; his mother was almost two metres tall. Her long blonde hair was flowed around her head and over her left shoulder. Not one hair was out of place. Morganne may have been pretty, but his mother was elegant and enchanting. The only thing that eclipsed her looks was her strong personality.
“I can only promise to never cross the family and the family business,” Barran held firm.
“Are you sure Brice?” The question from his mother sounded like an ultimatum with unknown consequences.
“Yes, Mother. I am sure,” Barran stated with a gulp.
◆◆◆
“I’m not in the right frame of mind to compete today,” Barran informed Daedo and Vannier. “You should get Axel-Zero to take my spot.”
Picard made a sharp noise of surprise.
Vannier began to ask, “Barran, what….”
Daedo held up a palm, halting Vannier.
“Imagine the invasion has already begun,” Daedo said softly and slowly. “Today, we lost Picard and Axel-Zero. They both died defending our base, dead! Gone! But we don’t have time to mourn because another attack is imminent. We have to suit up in our exos and defend the base all over again. And if we are not in the right mind for it; that would mean the others living with us will also die, all of them. We are protecting two thousand souls we rescued from the first wave. If we fail, they all die, as well as the rest of your squad.”
Daedo paused letting his story sink in. Picard and Axel-Zero looked especially sad. They were dead!
“Does it matter if you are in the right frame of mind or not?” Daedo asked Barran.
Barran wiped his eyes before another tear could fall. “You’re right, this is nothing, I will compete.”
Vannier looked at Picard and mouthed “harsh”.
Picard shrugged and looked unphased.
Axel-Zero whispered to Vannier, “At least you were alive. I just died!”
Kang pushed Axel-Zero playfully, “It’s not real, silly.”
Picard scowled at the three, “but it could easily be real.”
The afternoon went by with similarities to the previous week, with the exception that the Templars were a stronger team than Seoul MA and Tsinghua MA was much stronger than Humboldt MA.
Siderus and the middle Academy exo team held their own. They slid past one of the top Academies, Templars, winning with two exos still standing earning twenty-two points out of a possible thirty-two.
It was an exceptional effort showing the progress with the exos in comparison to one of the top tier three academies.
And now that the Fortescue Middle Academy exo team had won all three matches Tsinghua MA treated them as favourites. Their conservative tactics resulted in a close match with Siderus’ team taking twenty-four points, winning with three exos still standing.
Winning the Middle Academy exo matches gave Fortescue a much-needed head start to the day. Their
target was a minimum of forty points and gaining over twenty from the exo matches made it much easier for the rest of the team.
Daedo, Vannier, Mace, Barran and Picard performed well in the Gauntlet again. It was an away match. Therefore, Daedo sent out the M3 cadets first. This allowed him to learn the course and plan a strategy. He took the fourth position himself. He was the only cadet from the first session to eventually bring home a point.
Each cadet who competed in the last session was able to improve the score which included Mace, Barran, Vannier and Picard. They took home five points out of the eight against both Templars and Tsinghua. Picard took the honours of the highest score of the day.
Fortescue now sat at twenty-seven points against the Templars out of a possible forty and twenty-nine points against Tsinghua MA.
The Upper Academy Gauntlet performance was much improved. The team began to realise the speed and agility of the Titan class mech that Daedalus has designed and built. Out of the eight points on offer they took six against each Academy. It was twice as good as the result in the first round.
Before the Upper Academy Mech arena event took place, Fortescue were in the prime position.
Fortescue 33, Templars 15
Fortescue 35, Tsinghua 13
The only problem was the Mech event was worth fifty-two points in total and the winning team was guaranteed at least thirty-one points. This meant that if you lost the arena match, you could gain twenty-one points if you knocked out seven of the opposition mechs and it went down by three for every mech left standing.
A poor performance in the Mech arena was punished.
The Tsinghua match was first. Romulus lead the squad with his hand-picked mech pilots. Only three remained from the previous team. Tsinghua was conservative, although they were a strong Academy, knocking on the door of the top five, the exo and gauntlet result made them wary.
Daedo and his squad watched from an alcove in the visitor's box as the Romulus team performance valiantly, although with flawed tactics. What they lacked in wily manoeuvres they made up with boldness. Vannier thought it was like watching a team of Barran's do as they please.
