47 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 5 (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: 1, Round: 5
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Stanley Martin was part of the EU Defence Force (EUDF). One part of the five-segment combined earth defence. America, Russia, China and the combined Private forces made up the remainder of the five. America consisted of the mainstay; the North American Union who merged with and organised their southern neighbours.
China led Asia, other than Japan who folded into the Russian contingent along with the middle east. Africa joined the EU forming one of the strongest contingents with only the combined private sector holding more armaments, technology and manpower.
When it came to defending the planet, the private sector would follow orders from the grand marshal per the treaty of 2110.
Right now there was no Grand Marshal, one of the defence force marshals would be elevated at a time of interstellar war. Currently, the Russian Marshal was selected to take office in the event of an invasion or imminent threat. Out of the five segments, the Russian contingent was the smallest, which suited politically if they took the office of Grand Marshal. Disregarding politics, Stan was quite comfortable with the Russian Marshal, Mikhail Lebedev, known as Misha the master in the corridors.
Amongst the EU, Stanley Martin was a Colonel, designation O6-Pilot. The ranks from O1 to O8, which were standardised across all the defence forces, served as dedicated mech pilots. Ranks above and below it was not mandatory.
These days there were very few mech pilots who did not come through the Academy system. The main exceptions were those who competed in the competitions who decided to serve, whether it was in Private or with a government military organisation.
Stanley could have served with a Private, but he didn't. It was his own personal choice. Fortescue, for example, did the bare minimum to earn their tax credits. The gear and funding was substantially worse than the EUDF due to their tightfistedness. Contrarily, private organisations who took their responsibility seriously were the norm and Fortescue the exception.
It was Tuesday, the day of the M3 Tier one group rounds. Stanley could have just come on Friday, but he would miss seeing all the elite cadets from M3. He liked to see the potential of this entire group of cadets.
He made his way up to the boxes. Marais, as usual, was playing host. They were good people, and although did not have a standing military, they paid their fair share in taxes to support the EUDF. They also generously supported the Academy with no ulterior motive other than to support the training of future pilots and engineers who would defend the planet one day.
Granted EUDF spent millions annually on Marais Industries equipment, but that decision-making process had nothing to do with him.
”Sophie, Cillian,” Stanley bowed as a way of showing respect. Cillian would salute him, but it was not proper to return the gesture.
”Oh, Stanley. You're here! You made our day,” Sophie said enthusiastically.
Cillian shook his hand only to keep hold of it and lead him over to the box window as Stanley mumbled his thanks to Sophie.
”You have to see this,” Cillian said excitedly. He proceeded to pull up group two's information.
M3 Shu Squad one
M1 Horus Squad zero
M3 Osiris Squad zero
M3 Amun-Ra Squad zero
M1 Thoth Squad zero
”What am I looking for?” Stanley asked, ”Oh!” He was stunned for a moment. ”What's going on? Why are there two M1 squads in the M3 Tier one group?”
”I haven't seen the Horus squad. They are not competing in the M1 tournament, only the M3. But the Thoth squad is competing in both. And they my good friend are something to behold,” Cillian finished.
”So it's not some sort of stunt?” Stanley asked. He couldn't imagine an Academy master, let alone the entire group and the Commander allowing such a stunt. But, it was unheard of for one let alone two M1 squads to compete with the M3s.
Cillian shook his head, he was speaking at a hundred miles an hour. ”It is possible with the Horus squad, there is something different about them and a plausible reason for the anomaly.”
Stanley was not someone to get overexcited. He merely waited for Cillian to explain.
”The Fortescue's daughter, Karine, is in Horus M1,” Cillian stated.
”Oh? And is she good? I expect she would be well equipped and well prepared,” Stanley offered. Although for him there was little to be gained if Karine Fortescue was a dedicated and talented pilot. It would probably be wasted in Fortescue's military arm, unless, and there was a minuscule chance that the daughter herself changed things for the better. He wouldn't hold his breath.
”She is ranked third in M1 behind two cadets from Thoth,” Cillian offered.
”You have me with this Thoth thing. They never feature in the semis, not when I attended and extremely rarely since,” Stanley said.
”These cadets are different. The way they trounced the other M1 squads, it was like they were an M3 squad,” Cillian added.
”You sound like a fan. Cillian,” Stanley paused for a moment after saying his name, ”I came here today expecting to see your son in action. You haven't mentioned him once. Is he in group one?”
Cillian nodded, ”oh yes. Oh yes. He will be up first. I just had to tell you about the M1 squads.”
”I understand, it is extraordinary, and I look forward to seeing them,” Stanley replied. In truth, he wasn't that excited. M3 was a long way from graduation, it was as low as he preferred to go in terms of scouting talent. M1 was a good part of a decade away from becoming potential recruits. Cadets usually had one year off after finishing U3. Which made the entire journey seven years.
Group one primarily contained squad ones from the four houses with Shu and Thoth squad zero. Usually the squad zeros were the seeds, but in this case, Thoth was trounced every match. Nothing new.
Their exos were impressive, showing off their engineering and innovation. But the Shu squads exos were superior in terms of mobility. And when it came to piloting, tactics and gunnery, the Thoth cadets were woeful in comparison to the others.
”Your son did well, with his squad making it through to the semis you must be proud,” Andre offered. He had been mixing until the battles started and then watched with the pair. Although he let Cillian and Stanley do all the analysis.
Cillian nodded, ”yes. Very proud that he made squad one, and an unexpected feat that they made the semis with Shu zero.”
”Their piloting and tactics were strong, which led them to only losing the one match. It was well deserved,” Stanley opined.
”Horus was not up to par. They would have expected to go through, no?” Andre enquired. Horus was the other M3 squad zero in the group aside from Shu and Thoth.
”Their equipment was slightly below the standard of both Shu and Osiris,” Stanley mentioned. ”Did you have a hand in your son's equipment Cillian?”
”Only a token. They like to do it all themselves, and Jeram is quite talented. He probably would have ended up in Thoth if not for his Mother,” Cillian stated. Cadets would always be placed in the same house as their parents originated.
”It was a close thing, the Horus cadets performed well. They missed out by less than three points,” Stanley mentioned. If Horus had beaten Osiris they would have gone through, the first match ended up being the deciding match of the group.
”Thirty minutes until the next group,” with that statement Andre took his leave. He would come back and watch with the duo when the time came.
”How is it on the front lines?” Cillian asked Stanley.
Stanley scoffed, ”hardly front lines. We haven't seen an alien in over forty years. But it won't be long.”
”How long?” Cillian asked.
”We don't know for sure, five years, ten or somewhere in between,” Stanley speculated.
”What's the story behind the spiral?” Cillian asked softly. It was the first time he had seen Stanley since the announcement. Marais Industries, despite their military contracts, were not large enough to get a seat at the table. They were as blind as a normal citizen. Other than the fact he knew everything was not as it seemed.
”We will stay here. All the GDFs will,” Stanley prefaced. The acronym he used, GDF was short for the Governmental Defence Force. American, Russian, Chinese and EU.
”So the corporations are going? Going where?” Cillian asked.
”I know as much about their plans as you do,” Stanley answered. The combined private mechanised armies were nearly as large as the combined governmental forces. Which ostensibly meant Earth was splitting its forces in two and even the Colonel didn't know the why.
Cillian knew that if Stanley knew but could not divulge the information he would have just said it was classified. He said he did not know. Which is significant in of itself.
After a small amount of chit-chat and somewhat healthy nibblies Andre returned. Group two was about to get underway.
”Who is up first?” Andre enquired.
”M1 Horus and Shu squad one,” Cillian answered.
It was apparent to Cillian Horus was using the Inter-Academy equipment. Albeit from last years tournament. With one exception. Four of their squad were carrying PPCs, while the other three had miniguns.
”It's a year for firsts,” Cillian mentioned. They had not assessed Shu's equipment yet, they would have to wait for the match to commence. But what was obvious to him was the Academy equipment.