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Chapter 138
🕑 Added 2019-03-25 18:56:30 +0000 UTCDon't forget to review on amazon please - every review helps.
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The Daedalus Academy
Y: 2143 - M2
Daedalus Financial Position: -52,500,000 bitcreds
<break>
Barran burst into Daedo’s quarters.
All the former squad zero members, the educators and civilian experts possessed apartments of identical size. The open areas were fully programmable, so they all appeared unique according to the taste of the occupants. Sleeping and toiletry were behind another set of doors, and there was no need for a kitchen because drones were able to deliver food directly from the cafeteria through their own conduits in the walls and floors.
Daedo had placed a few obstacles near the door to slow down intruders. Barran vaulted the table and couch with ease.
“I’m busy,” Daedo said, “can’t you use the comm system?” He had his helmet on and it was obvious he was in a virtual room working.
Barran shrugged not caring that Daedo would not see him shrug, “You don’t answer the comms. I can only leave a message, and this is important.”
“I can only do one thing at a time now, I will go through all your messages before the end of the day,” Daedo stated.
Ignoring everything Daedo just said Barran continued, “Why are you re-arranging the squads?”
“I’m not, Master Haddad is,” Daedo said.
“But I liked our squad. I was comfortable with it. I thought we would just continue,” Barran said.
“We will. We will practice in mechs together and form the backbone of the inter-academy mech squad,” Daedo said.
“Who?” Barran asked due to a couple of former squad zero cadets being civvies now. Namely Axelzero and Kang.
“Picard, you, me, Vannier and Mace. And then the best three. Whoever they are.” Daedo said.
“So, Axel-Zero will make it if she is good enough,” Barran interpreted.
“And Kang. And if they want to,” Daedo said.
“What about the other core five, what if we aren’t the best,” Barran asked. “I’m not worried about me. But, you know, Picard isn’t that stable at the moment.”
Daedo paused his work and removed his helmet. “If anyone is not performing they will be dropped. There will be an inherent advantage in terms of teamwork and an extra year of training. Not to mention we can train with Mechs now. The chances of our friends not being in the top five are minuscule. The top seven has a larger degree of uncertainty.”
“So, what about these new squads?” Barran asked, “Do I get a say in my squaddies?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because Master Haddad has profiled all the new cadets and placed a certain profile in yours,” Daedo replied.
Barran looked worried, and then suddenly his demeanour changed, and he smiled, “Hot girls?”
Daedo laughed, “No.”
“You’ve changed,” Barran observed. “You never would have laughed at that before … you know… before.”
Daedo looked thoughtful, “I’ve noticed as well. Master Nader lectured me at length when we were in a coma. We discussed many things before she left.”
“You grew up!” Barran laughed.
Daedo shook his head. “No, I am still learning.”
Barran laughed at Daedo. “Still learning …,” then his face changed, “what have you done to this squad of mine. What type of street scum have you put in it?”
It was Daedo’s turn to smile. “It was Chief Austin’s idea. You can thank him. There are a few exceptionally talented cadets who are indisposed to following orders. And, well, your profile suggests you won’t give many. He concluded it was a match made in heaven.”
“Wait,” Barran began to pace while he deciphered Daedo’s gibberish. “Are you telling me you have put the most chaotic and unruly cadets. All of them. In one squad. My squad?”
Daedo truly enjoyed answering, “Yes.”
Barran shook his head. Imagining what it would be like before he exclaimed, “No girls?”
“Two,” Daedo said.
“Damn. They must be terrible girls.” Barran speculated.
Daedo nodded.
“You’re evil. You know that!”
Daedo shook his head, “Don’t blame me. It was Chief Austin’s idea.”
“But you all agreed!” Barran shouted, and then he accused Daedo, “I’ve never seen you smile so much. Not since that time, when Mace hacked the IBA.”
“Shh,” Daedo said, “that’s a secret. You’ll have to be more careful now the base is full of new people. And I don’t know why you’re upset. This will suit you. Your squad will be extremely effective, I am looking forward to it.”
“How?” Barran said imagining idiots running around like idiots.
“Imagine,” Daedo breathed and pulled up a display. An animated scene with the cadets from Barran’s squad appeared. “You enter the arena, and you let loose your dogs of war. No tactics. No orders.”
An image of Barran appeared, it pointed and shouted, “Kill.” His animated squad moved like a chaotic mass with ultra-weird loadouts. The cadets were all solo devils moving at high speed towards their baffled enemy. They even tried to steal kills off each other.
Barran watched and grinned, “Okay. Good talk.” He said before he left.
Daedo sighed and donned his helmet. He should have predicted Barran would need a personal explanation.
He worked on the new mech prototype for another hour. It was up to him and Kang to make it as durable as possible. It was a design balance between the strongest rigid materials and flexibility. The higher the power output, the greater the strain on the structure. There was no point having 225GW of power delivery to propulsion and hydraulic systems when the mech’s structure blew apart in seconds due to the load.
Straight line force application was not as large an issue as changes in direction were. Materials deformed under elongation, compression and twisting. Daedo finished his first prototype, he would design three distinct types based on different approaches, and they would test. Dex, AEMO’s counterpart rogue AI, was a modelling specialist. He would take the three base designs and work them through the modelling process. It would highlight areas of concern and possible variations.
When the modelling was complete, they would begin live tests. There was still five months before the regional inter-academy began, which would give them time for testing and practice.
An alert hit his HUD.
Myrmidon: Its time.
Daedo: I know. Where is our new squad room?
Myrmidon: we have squad room one.
Daedo: I told Haddad - no special treatment.
Myrmidon: maybe it’s a target on your back.
Daedo: you don’t forget anything do you.
Myrmidon: you have access to all my data now.
Daedo: I don’t have the time or sift through it all. I just use the processor when I need to calculate something.
Myrmidon: let's go and meet our new meatheads in person.
Daedo’s bodysuit changed to fit that of a squad leader. Although it was his second year in an academy, he had a tailored curriculum. Half of his time was on projects, the other half was spent on training. Academics, at least for him, had been dispensed with.
His old squad zero were mostly squad leaders. All except the two civvies, Kang and Axel-Zero. But as he told Barran, they were special. They would act as the Academies only upper cadets when it came to inter-academy. In the meantime, they were spread across different squads to assist in creating a culture. The Daedalus Military culture.
The games went a long way to instil this culture. And it worked better with some prospective cadets than others.
He stopped contemplating theory as he entered squad room one. It was a full squad of eight, there were no zeros with seven cadets. Another change Master Haddad had implemented.
<break>
Cadet Morton waited in squad room one. They had completed the tour of the Academy, and it was more amazing than he could have ever imagined. The tubes didn’t do it justice. They were over 1km underground, and Daedalus had built twenty different arenas which used augmented reality to create a realistic environment. Each one was massive.
The Academy was several levels, and then there was a manufacturing section, hydrofarms and the mech bays. When he saw the hundreds of real exos, all tailoured for individual cadets, just sitting there waiting. His eyes fell out of his head. They were beautiful. His was now in his room in a special locker. He didn’t have a railgun or PPC yet, that would come after more training.
In the room with him was Cadet Jia. Much to his surprise, the beautiful Chinese girl was in his squad. And more surprisingly she wasn’t his squad leader. He would have thought she would be a squad leader for sure.
There was also a fifteen-year-old boy - Cadet Fleming. He had red hair, freckles and was from Scotland. He was taller, but average for his age.
There was an Iranian girl with jet black hair and wide eyes. She was fourteen and extremely quiet. It took Jia a minute to extract her name. Ashaki Amari or Cadet Amari.
Cadet Rahman was from India, he was shorter, which made Morton happy. He didn’t like the idea of being the shortest boy. Rahman had dark hair and eyes and a very serious attitude. He wasn’t antagonistic, but he wasn’t friendly either. He was a thirteen-year-old who acted like he was fifty. It didn’t help that his nose was a hooked shape.
There was a girl from Russia with light brown hair and steely grey eyes. And she was antagonistic. He felt like she was going to bite his head off when he asked her name. Cadet Kozlov was his height and age, and her demeanour sent a clear message that she was not one to mess with.
The six of them waited for the last two cadets to arrive. There were three boys and three girls from across the globe, from Russia to India to his hometown in Michigan; North America.
The red-haired Scottish boy, Cadet Fleming, asked, “Do you think they were on a later mag-train?”
It was at that moment she entered. They all recognised her immediately. Her dark bob and pale skin were unmistakable. It was Axel-Zero one of the original Daedalus members of squad zero. She was fourteen and similar height as Morton. Who thought she was very pretty in person.
Although she wasn’t in the inter-academy team at Fortescue, she appeared on several Daedalus streams. Ones which they had all watched several times over.
“Hi,” she said to the stunned silence. “I’m Axel-Zero and we are squaddies.” She held out her hand to Jia who was closest to the door. They each introduced themselves in turn. Even Kozlov seemed impressed.
When she finished shaking hands, Axel-Zero looked around. “Seven?” She asked.
“Before you arrived there was just six of us,” Jia said.
“Master Haddad did say all squads would choose their own name and have eight cadets. All eight had to agree on the name,” Morton repeated the instructions.
Axel-Zero nodded, “That’s like him. He wants the squad to work through differences immediately. It will also show if anyone is quiet or pushy. Which isn’t bad, but we need to work each other out and begin to come together as a squad.”
“If the eighth cadet was not present at the tour, could they be arriving on a later mag-train?” Cadet Kozlov asked.
Axel-Zero shook her head, “You were all here before the tour started. That’s why you waited in the cafeteria for all that time.”
“Then it must be another one of you,” Cadet Rahman observed.
Daedo entered the squad room, and the new cadets nearly died.
They gawked at Daedo while attempting to hide their shock. His hair was cut extremely short, it was dark, and his skin was olive. Morton thought he could be Italian or Persian, it was hard to define. He knew Daedo was from France, but he looked to be Mediterranean.
“Hi, sorry I’m late. I am your eighth.”
No one made a sound.
It was like meeting a president or an idol. Except the meeting was a surprise. And they were sitting at your table for dinner.
It was Axel-Zero who broke the ice after a minute, “Why am I in your squad?” She asked sceptically as if there was a peculiar reason.
Daedo shrugged, “I asked Master Haddad for the best from Thou Shall Not Pass to be placed in my squad.”
She peered at him. “Did you cheat?” She asked before adding, “That still doesn’t explain why I am here?”
“I didn’t cheat, there is a reason for them to be here with me. I can only assume Master Haddad placed you and Kang in certain squads for a reason. Kang is with Picard. Maybe you are here to assist me?” Daedo stated.
She continued to peer, “How can I believe you had no idea I would be here?”
He pointed to his mouth. “I just told you.”
Morton couldn’t help himself and let out a short burst of laughter. It broke the ice for everyone as they all began to laugh.
Axel-Zero looked defeated by the laughter more than Daedo’s words.
“Have you got your exos?” He asked the room. They nodded. And two more exos arrived at the door carried by two drones.
“Axel-Zero and I will help you put them on. Get them,” he said. “We’re going for a run.”
The exos were not normal competition exos, they had full life support including water reclamation.
“Bring the medical gear. We will always sortie as if we are going to battle,” Daedo ordered.
Axel-Zero and Daedo checked everyone was properly equipped before he announced, “Armoury. Follow me.”
The highly ranked, confident, talented and beautiful Cadet Jia leaned close to Cadet Morton and whispered, “Pinch me. Am I dreaming?”
They were following Axel-Zero and Daedo. It did feel like a dream to Morton as well. He replied, “If I’m dreaming and I pinch you, you might get upset because you didn’t ask me to pinch you. I only dreamed that you did.”
She laughed.
“Don’t laugh,” Rahman interjected himself. “They will think us childish.”
Morton wanted to point out they were fourteen to sixteen, but he agreed with Rahman. Daedo was like an adult in all ways except height.
“Okay,” he said quietly.
“Helmets on,” Daedo ordered, and they switched to voice comms. Their HUDs lit up immediately with a UI very similar to what they were used to in the game.
“Everyone take a railgun, it will be locked, but if necessary I can unlock them in an instant. Sign it out using your CID.” He led them from the armoury. They now had a railgun, and their exo was fitting with a grappler under each arm. It also had six jumpjet exhausts from their shoulders down to their waist.
The took a travelator, which was also powered by a magnetic force similar to autocars and the mag-train. All eight piled into a single cabin, and the travelator shot up and east before breaching the surface. The exit was well hidden from above. However, any low orbit satellite would see the cadets exit once they were on the sand.
“Follow, twenty kliks,” Daedo said. (20km/hr)
In the exos, it was a high speed to maintain without using jumpjets. “If you get tired use your jumpjets to keep up.”
The new cadets were accustomed to the game and using a real exo for the first time was somewhat of a culture shock.
After ten minutes of running at a fast pace, they were panting but determined not to show weakness. The exo slowly began to feel real. No longer an augmented addition from a game.
“Stop,” Daedo ordered.
Several cadets were breathing hard, Morton guessed Daedo was monitoring their vitals like the game used to.
He walked around them completing a circle. Only Axel-Zero seemed unaffected by his gaze. Everyone else wilted. It was one thing to dream about joining the Academy; it was another to have Daedo look at you from a few paces.
He began to talk as they caught their breath, “We have to pick a name for our squad. Something that contains meaning for us all.
“Do you know why you are here?” He asked.
“Because you ordered us up here?” Axel-Zero joked breaking the ice. She thought about answering but remained quiet allowing the new cadets to speak up. “Someone begin, I know too much to answer.” She stated.
Fleming began, “To stick it to the big Academies?”
Daedo gave a single nod in acknowledgment, “Close, but not quite.”
“To make Daedalus the greatest corporation in the world?” Rahman asked.
Daedo shook his head. “Nothing so shallow.”
“To break traditions?” Cadet Amari, the Iranian girl, asked.
“Close, but not quite,” came his standard reply.
“To defend against the big corporations?” Kozlov said before she added, “or to attack them.”
Daedo shook his head, “Maybe that will happen, but it's not why you are here.”
“The rumours,” Morton began, “the alien invasion.”
“To defend when the rich leave on the spiral,” Jia finished for him.
“I expected no less from you,” Daedo said, indicating he knew Jia’s file in detail. “So, what should our name be?”
After a minute’s contemplation.
“Sentinel,” Axel-Zero said.
“Agreed,” Jia said.
“I agree,” Morton said.
“I agree as well,” Kozlov said.
“As do I,” Rahman said.
“It’s perfect,” Amari said.
“Much sexier than defender,” Fleming said.
Comments
Nicolas Maganto
Too predictable, Daedo knows what happens in Barran's head...
j0ntsa
gtfo with that reference...
Jan Alexander
Barran squad vs Daedo squad. Would love to see that. Haha
Can’t wait till Barren Squad appears, it’s going to be like a tornado full of sharks.
