48 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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Myrmidon had analysed thousands of M3 battles going back five years through all the tournaments intra and inter-Academy. The AI had analysed and distilled those battles into five hours of condensed tactical and logistical information.
None of the tactics on show today surprised Daedo. This was exactly what Myrmidon was brilliant at. What would have taken over a thousand hours to complete himself, the pair were able to achieve in five hours. Albeit Daedo had the cliff notes version, it was sufficient and much better than watching five hours of the latest finals.
M3 Osiris Squad zero (6) def M3 Amun-Ra Squad Zero
Osiris had one cadet left standing when they defeated Amun-Ra. It was an extremely close battle.
Next, it was M1 Thoth up against Shu (M3 squad one), who had just trounced M1 Horus without losing a single cadet.
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Author's Note: now for something different. A battle from Barran's perspective. Up until now, Barran's inner thoughts have not been divulged except through observation of his actions and speech. Where some of the other main cast has had an inner monologue disclosed on occasion.
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Barran lined up next to Gaumont. He put on a brave face, it was up to him to instil confidence in the rest of the squad, especially Gaumont. But what he felt on the inside was entirely different. This squad had completely decimated Karine's Horus squad, the squad they barely defeated in a close match.
Since that Monday night, the dark genius and the nerdy girls had upgraded the exo and railgun in particular. Where M1 Horus had been given the best exos, Fortescue could get their hands on and had five of those PPCs.
That sort of equalled it out.
Barran hoped this wasn't going to be insanely embarrassing. He didn't care what his family thought, his sister in particular. Master Nader was the one that put them in this mess, so he didn't care what she thought either.
No.
Babes would be watching this match.
Lots of them.
He had confidence that the dark genius would pull something out of the bag so they wouldn't be too embarrassed at least. He had faith in that. Barran thought of Daedo as a dark genius because of his hair colour and mediterranean complexion. In comparison, he had blonde hair and a fair complexion. He used to think of Daedo as a short genius, but that was too cliched, and Daedo would surely grow. Maybe.
Orders were filtering through, he had better pay attention.
*Daedo: Vanguard. You are to stick together and proceed to the central map location. Seeking cover and giving each other cover where possible.*
*Advance past 200m under direction only.*
*The liberos will stay in touch. Shadowing you.*
*Your direct opponents are fast, in mesh exos, wielding photon blades and pistols. They will try and kite you or circumvent you. This is where we will have the upperhand. Block their fire and if they get within striking distance. Pounce. Until they are circumvented or dealt with use the cover of the buildings as much as possible. That's the primary way to keep the railguns off you.*
*It's ok if you get pinned. You can still pounce from a pinned position.*
*Understood?*
The directions were simple, Daedo was like that. He would not give convoluted directions. He would issue plan b,c or d in the field and not communicate all the variables beforehand. Too much information up front would just confuse them.
At first, Barran thought there was no way this guy should be in zero.
He was wrong, so wrong.
He really looked up to Daedo now, a lot of people were called genius. This kid was the real deal. It was best he didn't let Daedo know this, because this sort of thing could go to his head. Barran saw it as one of his responsibilities to keep the squad leader in a healthy mental state. Ego check, healthy confidence boost and levity where what he provided.
Where Daedo was weak, he was strong. In physical prowess, business acumen and worldliness. Daedo was great at most of the rest. Together they made a great team. Barran could see this partnership going far. As with all things he would take it easy and not pressure either himself or Daedo. He could just be himself, as could the dark genius, and they would succeed.
Barran looked at Shu. This was M3 squad one, they were all taller and probably faster than him. But his exo was better, it could take quite a few hits from a photon blade, how many hits from his cestus could they take in a mesh? Probably just the one, but the hard part would be landing one.
Barran yearned for something with a longer reach than the cestus. He would probably end up shield barging them. Chuckling to himself, the shield had better reach than the cestus. But damn, the cestus did a huge amount of damage. It was concentrated kinetic energy of doom. Making use of his melee combat skills and the exo's strength. Punching a hole through a concrete slab was not an issue.
His current cestus weighed twenty kilograms and was connected to his exo with four hydraulic bars. His striking velocity with or without the cestus was almost the same in the exo. The additional mass added to the kinetic force of his strikes exponentially. If it weren't for the exos strength, his strikes would be considerably slower with the extra mass.
The testing facility set up in their workshop measured his strike power at 14.3kN in an exo with his current cestus. His melee strike, lead hand, without an exo or a cestus, was measured at 848N. Barran smiled at the remembrance, Picard came in second with 722N. He smashed them.
The AR countdown timer had started. Barran took a deep breath. It wasn't going to be a flat-out charge as he had been doing in the M1 matches, but he still had to find good cover 200m in. Without wasting jumpjets, he would be able to cover the 200m in a little over thirty seconds accounting for obstacles and making some use of cover.
Three, amber, green. Go! Barran launched himself down the wide street, heading directly towards the central built-up area. His HUD would warn him if an inbound shot was coming. Daedo's AI was typically the fastest alerting him moments before the round reached him. There would be less time for a railgun round, but Myrmidon was great at anticipating enemy actions. He couldn't wait for the day that Jenkins was that smart.
A ping appeared on his HUD. The red letters, EVADE, were central to his forward view and flashed for only a fraction of a second. The meaning was clear. Dodge mother fucker dodge.
Barran used his right jumpjet and immediately veered to the left. His momentum carrying him forward and his jumpjet pushing him laterally. Then he dove and rolled to the closest building.
No Railgun round sounded. Most likely he moved before the trigger was pulled. He didn't doubt Daedo and his AI for one second.
Too fast, he said to himself. He was still a block away from the appointed front line. Barran decided to climb, he could use gravity and small jumpjet activations to avoid any further snipe attempts. He would save his shield for later. Hitching his shield onto his back, he climbed the six-story building. The AR made it look like an apartment building, but with no imagination, there was never any women showering or doing exercise in skimpy clothing.
When he reached the top he darted forward, there were always storage sheds or different types of poles on tops of buildings to use for cover. There was still no sign of the enemy. They had four melee combatants, and four ranged in this match.
Barran jumped from the building across the street, reaching out to the next and grabbing with one hand. Using the force of his feet and hand against the building he slid down the southern side. The enemy was to the north, and unless they had flanked him, he was out of the line of sight at this location.
Barran was two hundred metres in, four hundred from the enemy starting position, there was zero chance of being flanked at this time. But it would not be long before this was a possibility. Gaumont was closing on his position using his shield for cover.
*Daedo: hold that line.*