22 Book 3 - Chapter 80 (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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*Picard: It's Father! Run!*
To say Picard had never beaten her Father in a friendly spar was a misnomer, he could have beaten four of her at once, easily. Whilst under his tutelage she had learned and mastered the basics. He had refused to teach her advanced forms stating that real power came from combining the basics in ingenious and efficient ways. On base, he was known as the Master in melee combat, whether it was hand to hand or with a weapon such as a shinai or bo staff.
Picard lept back and turned to run before Daedo could speak.
*Daedo: No. We fight. That's an order.*
Picard thought it was a mistake, but she would never defy a direct lawful order, and it would be worse than a thousand deaths for her to defy one in combat. Even if it was a training exercise. She stopped in her tracks and did not question Daedo.
”Oh, you are going to fight?” Specialist Picard said in an amused manner. ”Can you wait a few minutes. I won fifty bitcreds when you lasted more than fifteen minutes, and if you last an hour, I get a hundred more.”
*Mace: why are we staying? If he doesn't want to kill us for four minutes, we should run now.*
Daedo: if this was real there would be a chance that at least one of the three downed cadets was alive. We would overcome this enemy and then carry them to the evac point. Not to mention I am fairly certain we would not outrun him, and he could call in reinforcements to our location.
*Kang: your Father is almost forty. Let's kick his ass.*
Daedo: that old man took out Barran, Vannier and Axelzero and I only see paint on his boot. Picard distract him. Everyone else equip your railgun and shoot on command.
Picard walked nervously towards her Father. Sword and shield in hand.
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He sighed, there was still two minutes remaining. Wolf-soldier hero, aka Picards Father, uncrossed his arms, took a step forward and readied a side-on combat stance. Even in the military exo, he looked ready to fight unhindered by its bulk.
Before Picard could block their line of sight of the while wolf-soldier hero, Myrmidon popped 'FIRE' onto the squad's HUD. They had not drawn the Railguns this would have tipped him off before the fire command. They dropped their swords and shields and reached for their Railgun in a sweeping action with all the speed they could muster.
Picard saw the command and braced waiting for the inevitable assault. She planted one foot behind, turned side on and bent her knees slightly as she held her shield out front.
As soon as the cadets first finger moved to drop their swords the wolf-soldier hero knew their intent. It was a smart tactical move because if they shot him three times, he would go down.
He immediately spun and kicked Odette's shield in the centre, but the angle was calculated to fling her at the cadet on the right. It would at least ruin their view, and if it worked to plan, Odette would barrel into the cadet incapacitating them both for a short period. It was only a few moments he needed.
Wolf-soldier hero hit his daughter ten times harder than he ever had before, she was in a well-made exo, she would be fine. She flew towards the greatest threat, the squad leader. He didn't look like much, but he had won wolf-soldier hero fifty creds with his smarts. No one expected the cadets to avoid the envelope. No one ever did on their first attempt. The regs would hate these brats even more now that they had shamed them.
He laughed, as his daughter flew and he leapt high continuing his momentum while pumping his jumpjets, more thrust on the right to continue his turn and to bring his right leg around for the small cadet on the left. Much to wolf-soldiers surprise she fumbled her Railgun and dropped it. He missed his kick on purpose and gave her two quick slashes to the torso. The cadet named Kang was out with a whimper. The odds were now in his favour, one of the remaining cadets would have to shoot him twice.
Just as he had that thought, the middle cadet, Mace, shot him in the shoulder. Wolf-soldier hero was moving quickly, changing direction, it was a good shot under pressure. He now had three seconds to take her out before her weapon reloaded based on the previous experience from the well-executed ambush. The ambush probably would have been successful if he hadn't wormed his way into this exercise with the regs. But now he was here he could not lay down. That would be disrespectful to his opponent if not against his character.
Wolf-soldier hero continued with the momentum of his missed kick and brought himself around to face Cadet Mace. His head dipping down before firing jumpjets. He flew the few metres, almost parallel to the ground, she had skipped back as soon as her round of goo hit him. Smart, this cadet could think on her feet. He planted one foot on the ground and pushed himself forward at a greater velocity in order to catch her. He reached his long arm out and grabbed her railgun moments before she could fire and ripped it from her grasp. The power cord came free, from her exo, with a burst as he flung the railgun behind him.
The wily cadet stuck out her back leg and pushed off a tree. Her spatial awareness in the heat of battle was commendable. But it was in vain, he twisted and kicked off the same tree with twice the strength and speed of movement.
She was using all her jumpjets making him work to catch her, he knew the time she had gained would be invaluable to Odette and the squad leader. If he thought she would evade him any longer, he would have switched targets, but she was now within his reach.
Wolf-soldier hero grabbed onto Cadet Mace's leg and slammed her into the earth. Within moments he had slashed her torso twice before she could move.
Immediately he sensed Odette's approach, the pair had recovered, but it was too late. He turned, as she picked up speed, she was attempting to shield barge him. A rather crude tactic for her. He thought he had taught her better.
As she closed to the last ten metres, she jumped, using her jumpjets to gain extra height. Her legs moved in a running motion, and too late the wolf-soldier hero saw a goo pellet pass between them as they moved. He had seen tonnes of excellent combat partnerships in his day but threading a pellet through your partner's legs as they moved at high speed was a first.
Wolf-soldier hero leapt to meet his daughter head on as the goo caught him in the leg, he could not sustain another hit. Perhaps he would win the hundred bitcreds. As Odette arced her sword down towards his head, he grabbed the base of her shield. He worried for a moment that Odette's squad may develop an aversion to shields after he had used them so effectively against the cadets.
By pulling the shield down, he pulled Odette down and himself upwards, the arc of her swing was ruined as she fell beneath him. Wolf-soldier hero continued and sped his forward somersault by angling his jumpjets. While his daughter fought to stabilise herself before landing on her back, he was flying feet first at the squad leader who was jumping backwards, trying to buy more time for his railgun to reload.
Wolf-soldier hero immediately saw similarities with Cadet Mace movements. Although the squad leader was too slow to escape as well.
After placing one foot on the ground, the wolf-soldier pushed forward closing on his prey. He knocked the railgun aside easily with one hand and swept with the other slashing the squad leaders chest with his claw. Before he could slash a second time, the wolf-soldier hero was caught by surprise. A goo pellet hit him in the back. His daughter had switched to her railgun and fired on his unsuspecting back. He stopped his blow easily and smiled. He had outmatched them severely in skill and experience. They beat him with excellent tactics.
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Daedo wasted precious moments on his fellow cadets who were downed. There was no distinction in this exercise between incapacitated or dead. And it would be impossible to try and carry someone eleven kilometres through enemy lines.
*Daedo: let's move.*
He and Picard were the lone survivors. Which meant they were severely outnumbered if they met any more roaming bands of wolf-soldiers, but it also meant they could run at his maximum speed.
Myrmidon calculated the maximum jumpjet consumption whilst maintaining ninety percent energy storage in the lithium plasma reserves. Even if Picard used seventy percent as much energy on jumpjets as Daedo, she could keep up with her superior natural speed.
*Picard: you're going fast. What's your jumpjet time ratio?*
*Daedo: Myrmidon is using the max while maintaining storage. Use enough to keep up.*
*Picard: your AI is a cheat.*
Even if Picard's AI could calculate the consumption ratios, Alice would not be able to run her jumpjets in perfect sync with her movements without throwing her off. What she could do, was alert Picard when she fell below eighty-five percent reserves so she would hold off using her jumpjets until the lithium plasma storage recharged.
Daedo still had four drones left. One was far to the north and had done its jobs sending forty wolf-soldiers on a goose chase. They were now wise to it and were headed south at a rapid speed. He kept two on watch ahead and behind and sent the last drone to the east and then up high. He wanted to know how many roaming bands of wolf-soldiers there were.
The probability that there was one roaming band, that they lucked upon was extremely low. It was more likely that at least ten existed roaming ten kilometres out from the objective.
*Picard: how are you holding up?*
*Daedo: good, but our lead is dwindling. The group of forty will catch us if we are delayed again. And there is a chance they could catch us even if we aren't delayed.*
*Picard: do you know their pace?*
*Daedo: two forty-five per kay on open ground. Almost four through mountains.*
*Picard: shit*