29 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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Master Nader arrived back in her office. She checked that all her anti-surveillance devices were working and had not intercepted any recent covert surveillance attempts.
Nader: AI Zeus. Please confirm secure environment and ready live encryption for the following correspondence.
AI Zeus: yes Master. It will be encrypted before the bytes in memory are created. The recipient?
Nader: Carrier Birdsong; M10 system, Titan Lu.
AI Zeus: locating subspace transponder…mapping node jumps…recipient found…ready for message Master Nader.
Nader: Report, Ares Nader A544 - Commander Titan Lu. Two of the targeted humans have been successfully collected into the earth training program under my direct supervision. Early results show targets meeting or exceeding projected development. Current analysis shows development path will be achieved without further intervention on my part. To increase the success rate estimate from 90 to 99% a further year will be required in this body. Direction required: Move to body forty-two for further target acquisition or remain in this body to increase success rate.
Minutes pass
Titan Lu: Ares Nader. Report Confirmed. Remain in situ; the external threat level is still high. Another asset is developing target humans in body forty-two. Report on local threat analysis and sign off.
Nader: Understood. Local threat is negligible. Ares Nader out.
AI Zeus: Correspondence secure Master.
Nader: AI Zeus, I have another task for you.
The time ticked over 1630, Daedo had scheduled PT during this period, but due to the exertion of the morning's obstacle course he was considering skipping it and if the Gauntlet was not required spending the rest of the evening coding and planning for the weekend's work.
Daedo: Myrmidon. I am going to check the Gauntlet scores now, can you alert me if the top ten rankings change from now, please.
Myrmidon: sure Daedo. If I run a result extrapolation analysis, I would predict the likelihood of the cadets in the evening sessions breaking into the top ten as less than a one percent probability. At the moment the highest rank participant that has not completed all ten attempts, excluding members of Thoth squad zero is twenty-nine. This cadet has not improved their score by more than three percent per attempt. If they achieve their best improvement, their ranking will change by one.
Daedo: Thanks, Myrmidon. Once it goes past 1800, there is no point in worrying anymore.
Daedo pulled up the current table for Thoth squad zero and then the top ten table.
Gauntlet,Score R1 A9, Squad Rank, M1 Rank (1275)
Daedo,252,1,1
Barran,217,6,18
Gaumont,140,7,823
Picard,234,4,5,
Axelzero,229,5,10
Vannier,237,3,4
Mace,240,2,2
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Thoth Squad zero, after four attempts in their new exos, had four cadets in the top five and five in the top ten. After Daedo's first serious run he was able to improve steadily as he refined his skills and refined and practised his route.
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Rank, Cadet, House, Score
1, Daedo, Thoth, 252
2, Mace, Thoth, 242
3, Lazard, Shu, 241
4, Vannier, Thoth, 237
5, Picard, Thoth, 234
6, Fortescue, Horus, 233
7, Paget-A, Horus, 232
8, Paget-L, Horus, 232
9, Gallois, Osiris, 230
10, Axelzero, Thoth, 229
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There were two decimal places associated with a score which were used to rank cadets in the event of the same rounded score. It was notable that the exceptional performance by Thoth had pushed all Amun-Ra cadets out of the top ten.
Of all the cadets Daedo noted that Lazard, who was rank one for over a week, had an exceptional performance given that her exo was standard or close to it. The Paget twins who were both in Horus squad zero did not receive the traditional name modification as they would have both been Pagetzero.
Picard and Mace caught up with Daedo who had decided to make his way to the Thoth gym after all.
”Daedo,” Mace said, ”you want to come with us today?”
Daedo squirmed a little. The two girls would beat each other with sticks in the hand-to-hand arena. And while they were good at it, he did not relish the idea. It was not the concern over an injury. The medical bay at the Academy was second to none and quite capable of repairing anything from sprains to broken bones. It was the humiliation he would suffer at their hands, or as the case may be, sticks.
”You really should,” Picard said. ”Not only is the workout second to none, but you also need to improve your movements. Especially if you are considering using a sword in an exo or a mech.”
Daedo considered that he was quite proficient with a lance sword in CyberMech. More than proficient. Intellectually he understood the attack and parry maneuvers from the game as well as breathing. But she had a point, knowing what the move should be and being able to perform it precisely and efficiently were very different.
”Can I watch and you take me through a few exercises. I am still beat from this morning's run,” Daedo replied.
”Put on your helmet and run an AR tute, that would the ideal start. I will send you a link,” Mace advised.
Daedo donned his helmet and loaded the tute. In AR he could still see his stick, which was actually called a bo staff, and the arena including Mace and Picard. He could also see the virtual bo staff man which he was supposed to follow through practice maneuvers known as katas.
For the next forty-five minutes, he followed his virtual tutor over and over through the katas.
”You're looking good,” Mace said as he finished, ”I see no one has moved on the Gauntlet leaderboard. Still not running it tonight?”
”Yeah,” he said, removing his helmet. ”There is no need. This was helpful though, I really feel if I keep practising with this staff it will improve my sword work.”
”You can do this for years and not master it,” Picard said, ”I am still learning.”
”I think if you are serious about melee weapons it is essential training,” Mace said, ”if you were to use a cestus, there are many forms of hand-to-hand to practice as well.”
”I am wondering how well it translates to a mech,” Daedo pondered out loud before shaking his head. ”Even if you can't perform the moves in a mech it is invaluable, the instincts, the insight and we are physically training anyway. It is more efficient to learn a skill while working our muscles.”
”All true. So you will join us from now on?” Mace asked.
”1630 Monday to Friday?” Daedo asked. Although his schedule was regimented to the minute in forty-five minute blocks, it was not true for all the cadets. However, out of all his squadmates, Mace and Picard were the most disciplined.
”It's a date!” Mace said chuckling.
”A date where we beat you with sticks,” Picard cracked a rare joke and smile. She pantomimed hitting him with her staff.
”Dinner?” Mace asked, and she received nods all around.