15 Book 3 - Chapter 73 (1/2)
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: 2
Daedalus Operating Capital: 140,000 bitcreds
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”I have automated this form for every sale of the two-point-six exo,” Axelzero stated. ”It's not a lot, the micropumps, servos and the actuators are all current technology which attracts royalties. Everything else is royalty-free, including the reactor.”
”So all Barran needs to do is submit his order and it's all automated?” Vannier asked.
”Yes, including the manufacture and delivery if he enters the address,” Daedo replied.
”I feel much more relaxed knowing we don't have to rely on Barran sending off the IPO forms and payment,” Vannier added.
”Hello, I'm right here!” Barran exclaimed thumping his chest.
He received nods and smiles in affirmation. However, no apologies nor explanations were forthcoming.
”The last thing we want to do is anger the IPO,” Vannier stated. ”They hold a big stick, the least of which is they can suspend and cancel payments on all our royalties. Thanks, Axelzero.”
Daedo nodded, he was glad all the business side of Daedalus was under control and out of the way. Master Nader directing him to assign specialisations, and then extending it to the company aspect made everything run smoother. Axelzero had taken on the extra workload handling both Drones and Finance. She was doing excellent work in both areas.
”Thanks, Axelzero. You are really on top of your specialisations,” Daedo said. Human studies and the example from Vannier were having an effect on him. It wasn't difficult, he only had to express what he was thinking when it came to positive reinforcement.
Barran was moving around like a monkey on his stool.
”You too Barran, our cred balance has fully recovered in just one week after sponsoring Dead Beat. Thanks.” Daedo added.
”And we accrued the creds for Kang's future fees until the end of U3,” Axelzero stated while her squadmates wondered what accrued meant.
All the cadets thanked Axelzero and Barran, adding well done and other small congratulations. It was a load off all their minds. Barran was exceeding expectations just as much as Axelzero.
Daedo had argued with his father about taking over his own fees. Both his Father and Cisse would have none of it. They had set up a fund which would pay for his fees where they both put in the creds. Between them they had it covered. At least they didn't get involved with the costs for bodysuits, exos and other equipment.
The weekend schedule now included a Daedalus group meeting every Saturday after the morning run. First was business, then came operations and projects.
Daedo presented his report first, ”We are up to version two-point eight of the exo. Thanks to Mace we have a new hydraulic fluid, which showed excellent test results during the week. We have adopted it immediately. The next leap in performance won't be coming from me. It will come from Mace. I will leave that for her report. We will continue to sell the two-point six version, it's registered, and all parts are fully tracked with the IPO. But we will use the latest version ourselves.”
Daedo moved through the dot points quickly, it was important to be efficient with the information otherwise the meeting would drag on for hours. He spoke about the exo, Cisse's power project briefly and his research into physics.
”I have been spending most of my free time working with Myrmidon, researching and thinking about the physics which relates to the reactor and propulsion. There are no results to show this week, but we are making headway.”
This statement was pure fabrication. There were massive breakthroughs coming out of Nader's mystery box. Daedo knew he needed to lay the groundwork for the breakthroughs immediately. And release them as slowly as possible. It was a good thing the entire team, including Cisse, thought he and Myrmidon were pure geniuses. But even then it was going to be a rough journey.
Barran didn't have a tech project, but he was head of security which fell under operations. He went next, he had nothing to report other than discussing probable threats.
”During my studies in strategy. Yes, I do study,” Barran said tongue in cheek, ”I focused on probable threats. This is similar to when we hypothesized what could possibly happen. Has anything happened in the meantime that I should know about?”
”The alien threat net rumour campaign,” Daedo admitted. ”The bots are registered to me, and they were not hidden well enough.” Daedo could not discuss Myrmidon's rogue AI friends. He had promised. But it was something that Barran needed to be aware of to do his job. If anything, leaving it this long to report was a mistake on Daedo's part.
”Seriously?” several cadets questioned Daedo. Barran hushed them.
”Send me the details,” Barran said. ”I will get advice off a couple of good robolawyers.”
Vannier went next, ”Testing is underway for the new version of the railgun. A few things are holding us back, but we have been able to increase the rate of fire without affecting the velocity, accuracy or noise dissipation.”
”Our next round of major breakthroughs will come from munitions. I feel bad about saying this, but that lies mostly in Mace's area. When she is finished with polymers, we will work together on improving our munitions.”
Picard stood and delivered a report on physical training for the squad. Nutritional plans were updated and a new one created for Kang.
”Hang on,” Kang said, ”I have to eat what you tell me? I can't just eat what I want from the cafeteria menus?”
”Yes you can, as long as the replacement meal meets the protein, fibre, mineral, carbohydrate and vitamin requirements. And you can only drink water.”
”This is….” Kang was slightly angry and very frustrated.
”I thought you were going to smash me in the obstacle course?” Daedo asked Kang.
”So if I smash you I can eat what I want?” Kang asked.
”You can eat what you want now,” Daedo responded, ”But if you do, you will never beat me.”
”We'll see,” Kang said with determination but strangely added showing a sudden sense of responsibility, ”We're getting off track. Sorry.”
Picard moved on rather than continue to try to convince Kang. That was something she could do in private.
”We have the prototype swordlance and shield in the test bay, we can practice with them this weekend. The test results have been positive. Thanks to Kang; the shield's durability has been increased by twenty-six percent, and the swordlance's density has been increased allowing for more damage, with the stronger exos, while staying within regulation size.”
Axelzero presented her drones report, ”There are thirty drones in the test bay. Please take them for a test drive and inform me of your recommendation. We will conduct tests and present a report next week showing: speed, mobility type, damage type, damage amount, area of effect, runtime, armour factor, stealth, agility and ease of use. However, the quantitative report will need to be backed up with your preferences.”
”I am really looking forward to playing with those drones,” Mace stated. Everyone agreed to send Axelzero their input.
”This last week I have been working on the polymer compound used to create the mesh in our exo armour. I have been making headway with research known materials and compounds, but I am a long way off improving what is already known. Kang has been helpful showing me the process she goes through when creating new metal composites or alloys. Please be patient, but I am hoping to put forward a recommendation in time for the end of term tournament. The worst case will be narrowing down the best currently available compound for this purpose, and we utilise it,” Mace recited.
”It sounds like it will be a long time before Mace will be able to assist you, Vannier,” Daedo noted. ”Can I suggest you follow Axelzero's example and cheat by trawling through the IPO patent database?”
Vannier nodded smiling at Mace and Axelzero. ”Of course,” she replied.
”I checked the rules this week and had an expert confirm,” Axelzero stated. ”With an IPO database patented material we only need to pay a royalty if we are manufacturing and selling. If we are creating prototypes or for our own Academy use it is royalty-free as long as it's not one of the special case patents.”
”Does that mean other squads can use our exo patent?” Barran asked.
”Yes and no. We only registered the mesh design, there is no blueprint for our exo at the IPO,” Axelzero replied. ”So unless they can find our mesh design and design and build the rest of the exo themselves, its useless to them.”
Barran nodded, ”good to know.”
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”They would have to be technically very good, which I am sure some squads are, but they won't be the norm,” Daedo stated.
”As you said yourself Barran. An off the shelf reactor as good as ours costs one kay,” Vannier added. Barran was selling an entire set of exos, seven or eight, for fifteen thousand bitcreds.
”Okay, let's wrap this up and get back to projects and testing. Meals at regular times and Martial training at 1100,” Vannier concluded the meeting.
Kang raised her hand, ”Ah, what about me?”
”Do you have a report ready?” Vannier asked kindly.
”Ah no, but I can talk about what I am going to do for the next week,” Kang said.
Vannier nodded, ”Okay. I was going to give you another week, but please continue.”
”I will keep this short,” Kang said, ”I will mostly be working to catch up on academics and physical activities. But I want to start working on a new mixture for the superconductor in the railgun and another for the ceramic plates on the exo. I think I can do better than the ceramics using a composite.”