47 Book 3 - Chapter 105 (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: 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,” Axelzero 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 prefered 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 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.