65 M1 - Term: 2, Round: 1 (2/2)
”It's forty thousand when you count every student and cadet,” Jensen answered.
A few of the squad whistled at the number.
”What made you come here?” Mace asked.
Jensen moved in his seat uncomfortably, he had this conversation with Daedo and Vannier, but not the whole group. ”I haven't yet. I am still deciding,” he answered honestly.
”It's a big move,” Vannier explained to the squad, ”its understandable that you are taking your time to evaluate.”
”And it's a step down from Tier two to Tier three,” Barran observed. Daedo could see the wheels turning in Barrans head. And sent him a message.
*Daedo: don't.*
*Barran: don't what?*
Daedo sighed.
*Daedo: don't try and talk him out of it. I could literally see the thought pop into your head.*
*Barran: really? Shit. Is that your AI? Or some other skill you have?*
*Daedo: I have gotten to know you really well. I can predict what you're going to think and say most of the time.*
*Barran: fark that's insane.*
*Daedo: I knew you'd say that.*
*Barran: stop it!*
Daedo: only if you stop trying to talk Jensen out of joining. Let it happen naturally. We get to know him and him, us. The most important thing is not if we like him. Its if he can be a valuable member of squad zero and Daedalus.
”It's free time now,” Vannier informed Jensen. ”Work on academic tutes, rest or whatever you like. You have the main schedule. The next squad activity is dinner at 1715 and then Arena at 2015. The exo is in your room storage. You should check to see if you can fit into it comfortably and inspect the mesh underneath the plating as Daedo requested.”
.
.
*Jensen: this exo is amazing.*
He said over squad comms a few minutes into arena combat drills. Daedo handed him some beginner drills for the libero role after seeing his martial and gunnery skills.
Mace: what rank were you at Cambridge?
Mace was normally quiet, but she had been subtly testing Jensen. Daedo wouldn't push her to leave Jensen alone like he did Barran. If Jensen stayed, she would have to change from chem eng to metallurgy. The change inconvenienced her the most.
J*ensen: In academic, I was rank one, but the overall; fourth.*
*Barran: do they separate out subjects?*
*Jensen: yes, we are given scores for each subject, and they are not the same as here. Gunnery and Piloting are part of the same subject. There is no Strategy and Reference, but each term has a different subject in the eighth slot. The first term is was Military History. Second and Third term it is Philosophy. And tactics has its own subject, its practical as well as theoretical.*
*Barran: there are a lot of differences then.*
*Jensen: I can't be the judge of what is better, and I don't think it matters. Capability and application matter more in my opinion.*
.
.
Mace pulled Daedo aside after the arena combat session. In an hour they had their first gauntlet.
In three months Daedo had seen all his friends frustrated, stressed, sad, tired and angry at different stages. Mace was the most stable of the squad, Daedo couldn't include himself in that judgment, he thought he was always too busy to be any of the negative yet normal emotional states but was sure his fellow squad members would have a different opinion.
Mace was tense, to say the least.
”He can't shoot, he can't fight. Who knows how slow he will run. Even if he is a chemical genius is it worth it?” Mace asked.
”All these skills can be learned. Can I remind you that three months ago I couldn't run nor fight and I was hopeless in the exo,” Daedo responded.
Mace looked at Daedo's eyes for more than a moment. She shook her head, ”Ok. I am going to work on that assignment you gave me,” she said seriously before she flicked her hair and strode off down the corridor.
Daedo hoped she didn't exhaust herself trying to outperform the new recruit who had a talent and a lot more experience with chem eng.
.
.
Daedo entered the Gauntlet for the first time in term two. Immediately it was noticeable that it was distinctly different from the term one Gauntlets. This was the same Gauntlet as the M3s were running, which had been incrementally increased in difficulty each term for nine terms. For an M1 cadet, it was a massive leap in difficulty.
As the first wave of alien bugs charged him, Daedo wondered how the rest of M1 fared. 'How had Master Nader talked the brass into this?' He wondered. Gone were the relatively benign human enemies from term one that only reacted when they were agroed by proximity or weapons fire.
These bugs hunted him, and when he ran from them, they chased and searched. They never gave up even when they lost track of him. It wasn't long before he had forty, ugly, two-metre tall bugs searching for him.
It was possible that he would need to kill them all to get to the finish. The goal itself was to secure three bases. When all were secured, the Gauntlet would be over. This Gauntlet was scored for the time it took to secure all three bases.
Daedo cleared out the first base as one of the waves hunting him caught up. He decided to take them out, kiting away from the base towards the next. The short barrel railgun was superb for this type of action, one or two headshots took down the mutant bugs.
They looked like giant cockroaches except they ran upright on two legs. Daedo surmised if he got into melee with them they would use their four arms to rip him apart, in augmented reality of course.
Shots to the body were ineffective, grenades were almost useless. Other than headshots it took a massive amount of damage to the body to stop the bugs. AR goo splashed everywhere, and they kept coming. Daedo almost felt sorry for the cadets in slower exos. Almost. If he couldn't kite the bugs, it would have been exponentially harder.
Early ideas for strategically taking down the course began to form. He would have to work out which was the most efficient order to take the bases, which would be the path of least resistance.
There would be some groups which had to be taken down, where others were sufficiently left behind and never cross his path again. Once the base was secured, it stayed that way when he left it, which was a positive. Otherwise, there was a possibility this scenario would never be over.
His usual tactic of researching a Gauntlet would lead Daedo to trial loadouts for effectiveness. A shield would slow him down too much, so he didn't consider it. Getting too close to the bugs was dangerous also. If he couldn't impale them with the swordlance while charging he would drop that as a tactic. It would most likely be a pure railgun and headshot run. Keeping his left hand free for grapple while bringing as many hooks as he could economically carry.
Daedo ran scenarios and tactics through his head as he took the second base. He wasn't pushing this run, there were still nine more attempts this round after tonight.
Daedo left the simulation and thanked the Gauntlet Gods that it was AR as all the goo disappeared.
One by one the squad finished, with Jensen receiving a DNF due to AR death.
”What the hell was that?” Jensen balled when he exited.
”The Gauntlet,” Barran replied smirking. He was just behind Daedo in time. There were no points for bug kills, this gauntlet was purely on time otherwise cadets would farm the hordes of bugs to game the scenario.
Barran pulled up the ranking and laughed. ”In M1 we hold down the top six places. I guess the other exos are not up to it,” he said.
”Look who is seventh,” Vannier laughed. It was Gaumont.
”They will be asking for seven more railguns,” Barran speculated. ”Or has he already?”
They had provided Gaumont with a railgun and eight exos. Everyone shrugged. No one received a request yet.
Daedo shook his head, ”No he hasn't messaged. He should probably drop his railgun, or we provide him with seven more. There is no point unbalancing his squad's armaments like that.”
Vannier waited for Daedo to make a decision holding her palm upward indicating he should just make a call right here and now.
”Ok send the message, and offer him seven railguns. But that's it, they need to start working their butts off. No more handouts,” Daedo decided.
”He said he is sending his back,” Vannier reported after sending a message and receiving a reply.
Daedo smiled and said, ”Good on him.”
Jensen still hadn't gotten over the difficulty. ”Is this what you had to contend with last term?” he asked impressed.
”No, it was much easier last term. They have us on M3 Gauntlets this term,” Vannier answered.
Jensen moaned. He didn't ask why.