40 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 4 (2/2)

After some contemplation, Daedo informed Mace, ”I will devise some exercises for you and your AI to complete. To be honest, I have not paid much attention to the subject matter.” If he was perfectly honest, he would have said he had paid no attention to the subject matter.

Mace looked at him sceptically. ”Your Myrmidon Tower Defender shop has been around for years,” she accused. ”I know, I bought some of your blueprints when I was eleven.”

Daedo shrugged. All that meant was he liked the name for a long time. In fact, the shop did exist before Myrmidon was birthed. It was his first handle. Chief Cleo had discovered he had birthed his AI before entering the Academy, but he still preferred only the Chief and Master Nader to have this information. If it wasn't for Master Nader's intervention, he would probably have been in a lot of trouble. Although a scary taskmaster she was proving to be squad zero and his saviour on more than one occasion. The only real issue she had was that she probably murdered Master Ustinov. That's all. No big deal.

Daedo sighed. He turned his thoughts away from that line.

Mace misinterpreted his sigh. ”You don't have to help me if you don't want to,” she said meekly.

Daedo shook his head. ”No. It's fine. I began thinking of our Master and that incident again.”

”Oh,” Mace nodded. It was like a secret she shared with him. No one else seemed to notice, and it was not something they would openly discuss. Master Nader always had them under surveillance, it was part of her job.

”Daedo,” Mace began reflectively, ”I really wasn't looking forward to coming to this Military Academy before the term started.” Before she could finish the thought, they arrived at their quarters. And now that she was amongst a few other squad members she became quiet.

Daedo texted her.

Daedo: me either lol.

Mace: I am really happy now though. I was nothing like I expected.

Daedo: Would you believe I expected you all to be rich snobby kids who would give me the shits?

Mace: Well. You aren't far from wrong. You just lucked out with a few good members in this squad like Vannier and Axelzero. Not to mention its hard to give the ranked one kid too much snobbiness. Jealousy yes. But its almost impossible to look down on someone who kicks your ass.

Daedo and Mace chatted for what seemed like a few minutes before Barran tapped him on the shoulder.

”Hey,” Barran exclaimed. He was back from his run. Daedo must have been texting Mace for almost an hour. What was strange for both of them was they weren't discussing technical issues, tactics nor any other academic topic. They were just chatting about their own thoughts and feelings. Past and present.

Daedo removed his opaque helmet. ”Hmm?”

”Shu want their exos next week. They are willing to pay an extra five k bitcreds for early delivery.” Barran beamed.

Daedo surmised they most likely wanted extra time to practice in the exos before the end of term tournament.

”They will have to take the two point three,” Daedo said. It was their fifth version. He had been upgrading the exos weekly and had started to use decimals for each minor upgrade.

”Sidarus has been watching the streams of our practice sessions and said the current version is fine,” Barran answered. ”He also said good luck. He knows we might be entering the M3 tournament.”

”Assuming we get past the other Thoth M3 squads,” Daedo said.

Barran laughed. ”You must have seen vids of their practices?” He asked enthusiastically, loudly and rhetorically. Barran gave the distinct impression he thought they sucked balls.

”Well, we could certainly use that five k. It will fund us for an extra couple of months of materials,” Daedo cracked a tiny smile.

”Yeah. We are on a winner with these Shu cadets. They are addicted to speed and will spend everything they have on it. Even I would baulk at twenty k bitcreds. I think.” Barran contemplated what he would spend if the roles were reversed. ”Nah, if my share was three k I would deff do it.”

Mace stood in a huff. Her pure white hair flying as she whipped off her helmet.

”Do you always have to be so loud Barran. I was studying,” she yelled. She then stormed off to her apartment.

Barran stood open-mouthed. Mace never yelled, she rarely spoke.

Daedo was confused. She wasn't studying. She was texting him. He thought about it. Why was she angry?

Barran mouthed to Daedo what seemed to be ”Holy Shit.” With a look on his face which said where did that come from?

Vannier looked at Daedo and Barran. She stood and walked past Daedo on a trip to the kitchen for a drink. On her way back she bent down and whispered to Daedo. ”Are you clueless?” Before sitting back down and resuming her studies.

Now he was definitely confused, and he had no idea what he was clueless about.

Round four flew by. Between the training, studying and workshop squad zero Thoth kept themselves immersed in activity.

The rankings did not change much from round to round. Daedo still ruled the Gauntlet each and every round. He slowly and steadily improved on the obstacle course breaking into the top one fifty students of M1. Coupled with his domination of academic subjects his place as rank one cadet of M1 was never challenged. Along with Mace and Vannier, they held three of the top five rankings with Karine Fortescue as the only other regular in the top five cadets. The fifth alternating between Lazard of Shu and Paget-A of Horus.

It was round five. The final round of the ten-week term.

Vannier announced to the squad as they met for their morning breakfast, ”we have the schedule for the Thoth M3 preliminary bouts.”

”What about the M1 qualifiers?” Gaumont asked.

Barran laughed.

Vannier responded, ”Master Nader has given us immediate qualification with the other squads competing for the second tier one spot.”

All squads, from zero to thirty-one competed at the end of term arena tournament. However, it was broken up into eleven tiers. The top tier had two squads from each House which then competed in a round robin group comprising of five squads. The top two squads from each group went on to the semi-finals. The other thirty squads were placed into ten tiers, three into each.

This meant every squad had at least four tournament matches and if they progressed up to three more. Each House Master was able to rank their squads however they saw fit. Which meant that most squads had several preliminary matches where they could possibly jump tiers if they performed well.

When anomalies happened, like M1 Squad Zero competing in M3, the House Master could load another lower Tier with an extra squad. The squads in that tier group would just have an extra round robin match.

Vannier continued, ”Master Nader informed me that if we do not qualify for Tier one in M3, we will not compete in a lower M3 tier.”

”That's understandable,” Axelzero responded.

”That would be embarrassing,” Barran added. Everyone just looked at him.

”What?” He said. ”Look. Our Master put us forward. She surely said we would kick ass so… if we don't, we will look like losers.” He added, ”Am I wrong?” Pointedly at Daedo. They all knew Daedo and Vannier were called into the Meeting of the Masters.

Daedo opened his mouth to answer. Then closed it and shook his head. Master Nader sort of did say they were exceptional and should be included.

Barran thumped the table in triumph.

Gaumont placed his head on the table and mumbled, ”I can't take the pressure.”

Barran tried to console him, ”don't worry, even if you die in the first salvo we will still win.”

Vannier looked at Barran as if to say. How is that consoling?!