51 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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The room was quiet, other than the sound of exos and weapons being loaded into hoverbins and one cadet whistling. Barran whistled a happy tune which mirrored the general feeling of the squad.
Authors Note: music was an individual thing. Cadets could listen to music anytime through their helmets and often did. The room would still otherwise be quiet.
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There were no hi-fives, or dancing or raucous laughter. The cadets were pleased with their accomplishment, but they were not the types to jump around in wild abandon. Perhaps Barran was, but he locked step with his peers.
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M1 Thoth Squad zero, M1TS0, were in the semi-finals of the M3 competition. In term one their first term at Fortescue Military Academy. Up until this point, they had worked hard, focused on improving and what they needed to get done.
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Every year there was a cadet who was ranked one, a cadet ranked two and sometimes from the same squad. But what they achieved had never been done before in the thirty-four-year history of the Academy.
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Messages from their peers filtered through to Vannier, Axelzero, Barran and even Gaumont, Mace and Picard. Daedo received the singular message.
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*Sideris: well done Daedo. See you on Thursday.*
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It was the squad leader from M3 Shu zero. One of the only people to have his contact which was due to the purchasing of exos. Ironically they would be facing each other in the semi-final. At least one squad with Daedo's exos would be in the final.
As the squad walked back to their quarters Barran announced, ”I'm going to have to put on auto-reply again,” and then laughed.
Daedo was reading the group two analysis from Master Nader. Her analysis always contained metrics which were not available on the Academy's killboard. Until the tournament started, she sporadically sent tables with data on their practice matches. But now the official matches were underway the analysis was set out in a structured manner.
The dashboard showing key stats, with comments about strategy and performance below each match. Not only did she give stats on their performance, but they also had every single squad in the same format, including matches they were not involved in.
This made it easy to highlight weak areas using the comparison to other squads in terms of reflex action, accuracy, quality of damage and cybernetic bandwidth. All of which could be trained and improved.
Their last match had no review notes, only an order for a debriefing at 1830. Daedo sent a missive over comms as not everyone was in earshot.
Daedo: squad, we best eat, shower, whatever. Master Nader has scheduled a debriefing for 1830.
Daedo put his exo away and hit the shower. It had been a long day. No one wanted to brave the cafeteria, the squad ate and chatted in their quarters until Master Nader summoned them into her office at 1830. Master Nader was never late.
”Be seated,” Master Nader informed the squad. And they sat on one of two bench seats she had prepared in the shape of an L facing her corner desk and display.
”You must be satisfied with your progression?” She asked the squad.
It was almost delivered as a rhetorical question. No one answered for a moment.
”We are satisfied that we have progressed in both competitions,” Daedo answered carefully.
”Your performance, tactics and equipment are all commendable,” Master Nader began. ”Yes. We can be critical and find issue with many things. But this is why we train. That is why we are here. To learn. But in order to learn correctly, the fundamentals must be in place.”
She paused. Her robotic voice conveying neither compassion nor joy. However, it was exceptional at showing displeasure, which was not on display on this occasion.
”I have one major concern. Let us run through a logical progression,” she issued the challenge, a few questions should lead the squad to the same conclusion as she had already arrived.
”Why does the competition give more points for the fewer cadets you lose, in order to win a match?” Master Nader asked.
Axelzero answered immediately, the cadets knew it was best not to muck around, ”the additional 0.1 to 0.8 points show the level of disparity between the squads. In the event, if the group stage ends with an equal number of wins the performance of each match separates the tied squads. These points become significant in the longer inter-academy league competitions.”
The league competition predominately had matches every weekend, with a total of twenty-two by the end of the regular season.
Master Nader stood silently. A strong indication that the answer was not complete.
Daedo thought he knew, but if he answered everything it did not assist with the squads learning. He folded his arms indicating he wasn't going to answer. It was up to the rest of the squad.
Vannier offered the simple answer, ”the fewer cadets you lose, the more points you get. Points are the only reward in a match, therefore, are the only measure of performance.”
Master Nader leaned forward.
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”That did not take long. Good,” she said in her manner of conveying barely adequate performance.
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For the first nine weeks, Master Nader used her usual manipulation and nurturing techniques on the M1TS0 cadets. Daedo had become problematic. He saw through a trial for what it was. Trials were set before him by Master Nader for the sole reason to train. On many occasions, his deduction lowered and sometimes nullified the effect. She came to a conclusion that direct and open tutelage was in order. Not much else worked when Daedo picked it apart with logic.
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”The Squad Leader,” she began again, ”and his second have the reports from the group matches. They will interpret and discuss. I will not be giving you a performance review on the matches. I will give your leaders a performance review on your own internal performance review.”
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Master Nader stood and walked out from behind her desk. ”There is one message that I wanted to give to you all directly. And I want you to consider very carefully what I say next.”
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”From now on,” she began and paused dramatically.
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”In every match and every competition,” she stopped again.
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”Treat every death as real. I want you to play,” and she said the work play in a manner which conveyed her disgust for the word, ”and not lose anyone in any match.”
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Daedo bowed his head. The effect this would have on their tactics and disposition was enormous.
After three minutes what she said had sunk into all the cadets. The protests began.
Barran, ”but no one else will be playing like this!”
Gaumont, ”we can't. Argh. How?”
Vannier, ”Master Nader, this will make for some boring matches are you sure?”
Daedo wondered why Vannier would say that. Surely she knew Master Nader well enough by now. She was always sure. Maybe she held out a small hope.
After everyone protested except Mace and Daedo. Master Nader sat back down.
”None from you two?” She asked.
”What's the point?” Mace answered. Correctly indicating that no protest would succeed but she still didn't like the order.
Everyone turned to Daedo who had assessed Nader's reasoning and her long-term goals.
”We're all dead,” he said.
”What, huh, come again?” from numerous squad members.
”Sure we will be with this directive,” Gaumont misunderstood where Daedo was coming from.
”At some point today, I sacrificed one or more of us, including myself, in order to win. If this was a real battle we would be dead,” he said.
Daedo stood, ”Master Nader. You stated that we cannot lose anyone. That doesn't mean they can't leave the field of play when damaged and almost dead. Do I understand you correctly?”
”Affirmative,” Master Nader answered. The fine print opened up many possibilities. If someone was deactivated by the AR adjudicator, they weren't actually dead. They were incapacitated. Which means they would survive if it was a real battle. As long as the enemy did not finish them off or they bled out before help arrived. Details which matches did not deal with.
”Incapacitated!” Picard shouted.
The cadets nodded. It was not as it first seemed, but still. It was a restriction no other squads had.
”Cadets; Picard, Axelzero, Barran, Mace dismissed,” Master Nader ordered.
Puzzled looks towards Gaumont as the four left Nader's office. Nader often talked to Daedo and Vannier alone. Or a cadet alone. Leaving Gaumont in the room with the two leaders had significance.
The door closed behind them.
”Maybe he will get what is coming to him,” Barran harked back to an old grudge where Gaumont was not participating as part of the team.