18 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 1 (1/2)
Attendance at Fortescue Military Academy M1 Y:2142
House Thoth, Squad Zero
M1 Rank: ?/1275, Tier 3 M-Rank: Null
Term: 1, Round: 1
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As he walked Daedo reviewed his time at the Academy thus far.
He had not set a gauntlet time or score, preferring to explore the scenario further. He had gathered key intel regarding travel paths of the guards and how they reacted when an alert was sounded. It was much more complex than a simple game. The guards were not scripted as they had their own unique code with the capability of independent calculations and decisions. They would not necessarily do the same action twice given the same scenario. It was an excellent system which mimicked reality as best it could. There were still eight sessions in which to set a time before this particular layout reset at the end of the two-week round.
During their two exo combat practice sessions, Daedo used a launcher and carried various other off the shelf traps. He would not use a lancesword again until his exo modifications were made. A melee weapon was at a significant disadvantage while the movement was sluggish and top speeds were slow.
For the rest of the week, he would set himself drills and would practice with all the available traps in different combat scenarios. Baiting, escaping, destabilising and restricting or controlling enemy movement. Each trap was different, and he was working out the limitations and possible improvements that could be made. It would take significant practice to lay a static laser line down at the right moment to damage or control an enemy. As they were easily avoided if used poorly.
He would begin to work with Vannier and Picard into forcing and keeping opponents into their line of sight. Where other cadets were concerned with their kill death ratio, he was concerned with development.
Daedo had not been topside since entering the Academy. The area was lit, so there was no need to use sensors from his helmet to find his way around, but he did use the hud with the map overlay in order to arrive on time.
Daedo entered Chief Albert's office. It was an ancient building with tapestries, bookshelves with old school books, carpets and wooden furniture. He was not one to get romantic about such things, but even Daedo could appreciate the atmosphere.
”Cadet,” Chief Albert called as he entered from a side room.
”Sir,” Daedo saluted as all cadets had been instructed.
”At ease Cadet,” Chief Albert commanded, ”follow me into my study.”
They walked from an ancient library into a modern office, similar to Master Nader's. Modern tiles and a programmable grid was a stark contrast to the ancient library until the door slid shut and turned opaque.
”Please sit,” Chief Albert ordered as a stool popped up for Daedo. The Chief continued to stand and pace. The wall lit up with Daedo's solution, and the Chief addressed it directly.
”This problem has only ever been solved once before by a cadet, it took him nine weeks, and with had a few errors mind you. So you could say they deduced the method but did not calculate the solution with one hundred percent accuracy. And the reasons are evident, they did not use vector shapes where you did. Therefore they did not reverse engineer to the same accuracy as your equation enabled. This is my summary, and it is impressive. I have a few questions for you Cadet,” the Chief foreshadowed what was to come.
”Did you cheat? Wait, before you answer; know this. Cheating is not a bad thing, and you will not be punished for cheating. If you were in a battle against an enemy and cheated to win the battle that helped our planet, then why would we discourage cheating? What is cheating? So really my question to you is did you solve this problem using conventional means or did you adeptly outsource the method and calculations?” The Chief asked the most long-winded and unnecessarily complicated question.
”No I did not cheat, but I did use shortcuts,” Daedo answered.
The Chief waved his hand, dismissing the last words, ”shortcuts are commendable young Cadet. All the best mathematicians use shortcuts. Look at the abacus for example. A tool that is essentially a shortcut method. Now can you describe to me how you solved this problem?”
Daedo went through the process only downplaying Myrmidon's assistance by stating he had written or altered existing code to do some of the time-consuming calculations.
”I must say I am impressed, even your profiling, which indicated high competency, was not able to capture your potential correctly,” the Chief praised Daedo. ”Would you like extra problems to work on? Ones that would make a real difference. Not just tests?”
”No sir,” Daedo answered succinctly and the Chief's face sunk.
”What do you mean no? You will be helping us prepare for the upcoming war,” the Chief said.
”What upcoming war?” Daedo asked.
The Chief shifted nervously about for a moment before nonchalantly replied, ”I mean the potential alien threat. We must prepare as if war is coming.”
”Sir, I have so much to do right now. I cannot take on further work until I complete the exo upgrades we have planned,” Daedo answered.
The Chief looked thoughtful, ”maybe it is for the best. This problem was difficult, it was given first so we could find ones such as you early.”
The Chief paused in contemplation before mumbling, ”Perhaps I will rearrange the next four problems, hmm.” It was not a question.
”Sir are you proposing to add expert problems as our general coursework, so I will attempt it?” Daedo asked.
The Chief looked abashed and then smiled while nodding, ”yes.”
Daedo looked worried. He had inadvertently caused the entire M1 class to receive problems which were probably impossible. He immediately stopped worrying, it was not his issue what the Chief did, and the performance of other cadets was not his concern except when it came to his squad. He would just advise them to do well on the coursework and ignore the problems. That would be enough and would save them time.
”I see you are worried,” the Chief offered, ”I will send through the problems now, so you have the almost the entire ten weeks to work on them. You are dismissed, Cadet. You have much work to do.” The Chief ordered formally.
Daedo walked back slowly to the travelator which would carry him to the M1 underground complex. He replayed the conversation in his mind. Between Chief Albert and Master Nader, there was more going on than the adults were letting on. They knew something that was not public knowledge regarding an alien threat. It was obvious, they did not even try that hard to hide it. Perhaps it was common knowledge in their circles.
He wanted to get to the bottom of this mystery more than he cared about solving incredibly difficult mathematical conundrums.
Daedo arrived back at the squad quarters where Vannier and Axelzero greeted him.
”We were just about to go for Physical Training, do you want to come?” Vannier asked.
Daedo looked at the two girls, he wasn't tired, and his last few sessions before bed were flexible, ”I've already done my two for today,” he responded.
Axelzero looked disappointed, ”when did you go?”
Daedo flipped out a holopad, from his forearm projector, with his schedule. He had Physical Training down for 0645 and 1630 daily.
Vannier and Axelzero looked at it closely, ”hang on,” Axelzero exclaimed, ”you have the whole day broken into forty-five minute sessions and have the entire week planned?” She asked rhetorically because she could see that he did.
”I am not surprised,” Vannier opined and made ready to leave.
”Are you sure you don't want to come with us?” Axelzero said holding his hand which was in front of his projector.
”Ah,” he began. And an important memo came through from the Chief of Math, Albert.
Cadets. The Four Problems from weeks two through to eight have been brought forward and released. These problems are significantly more difficult than the first. Therefore they have been released early to allow extra time for their solutions to be derived. Chief Albert. Math Department.
”What!” Gaumont could be heard yelling from his room before his door slid to the side and he exited, ”Daedo did you get this memo?”
”Yes,” Axelzero said, she was still holding his hand, ”everyone did.” She suddenly realised how long she had been holding it and dropped his hand. Gaumont did not notice, but Vannier and Daedo did.