87 M1: Term 2, Round: 4 (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: 2, Round: 4

Daedalus Operating Capital: 160,000 bitcreds

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”Move, move,” Barran yelled as he skated past Picard and slid into the safe zone.

”You rip up that exo much more, and Daedo will yell at you,” Picard observed as she crossed the line.

In the centre stood Axelzero, piloting Old Dawg, and she was surrounded by Daedo, Vannier and Kang.

Mace ran directly at Daedo, and as soon as she closed to four metres, she darted to the right.

”Axelzero. Grab her,” Daedo yelled.

Old Dawg's hand swept in front of Mace who pulled up centimetres short, before she began to run again, once the hand had passed. She then launched herself feet first between Old Dawgs legs and skidded through them on her butt.

Vannier swept around the back, closing on Mace as she got up, as Daedo closed from the opposite side. As soon as she was on her feet, Mace put on an astonishing burst of speed to escape the pair to make the safe zone on the other side.

”Har,” Barran called, ”You didn't get any of us that time. It's over Red Rover.”

Daedo inspected Barran's exo from a couple of metres. ”How can you do more damage to an exo playing Red Rover than you did through an entire eleven matches in the tournament?”

”It's not my fault Old Dawg keeps bashing me,” Barran stated genuinely.

”Ah, yes it is,” Picard said. ”Stay out of Axelzero's reach.”

”I'm confused,” Kang said. ”If Axelzero is the pilot, why do we keep calling Old Dawg; 'he'?”

”Because it's a he. Old Dawg is a terrible name for a girl mech,” Axelzero said. ”And we aren't changing his name or gender.”

Kang looked at the mech and tilted her head to the side, ”Seriously, you guys are weird.” It was common in the pro league for female pilots to have female mechs, and male pilots to have male mechs. But there were all sorts, and mechs did change pilots on occasion.

”Are we going to enter Old Dawg in the qualifiers this break?” Axelzero asked.

”Up to you,” Daedo said. The qualifiers were a preliminary tournament to gain entry into a pro league event. Every event had at least four positions for qualifiers out of the one hundred and twenty-eight strong field. Most mechs were seeded from previous events, but if they were out of the top hundred and twenty-four, they would need to come through the qualifiers.

It could be where dreams were made, but mostly it was where bitcred accounts were busted. There was no purse for the qualifiers and the cost to compete, repairs and logistics were worn solely at the entrant's expense.

”Really?” Axelzero asked again, unsure of herself.

”We've decided that Old Dawg is your designated mech until you want an upgrade,” Daedo replied. Unbeknownst to Axelzero the rest of Daedalus had agreed that Old Dawg would be her mech to pilot and customise.

”Never!” Axelzero exclaimed.

”You should be thankful, now the rest of us have to wait for the new Daedo designed mechs,” Barran informed her with his wry sense of humour.

”Team effort,” Daedo corrected. ”Mace is supplying polymers and fluids. Kang worked out all the structural and armour plating, not to mention what alloy compounds we use in key parts like the actuators. Ikaros has been instrumental in the design. And Cisse is building micro fusion reactors.”

”Old Dawg has spirit!” Axelzero announced with feeling. ”Where others may fall, he will triumph.”

It was Saturday, and the squad were blowing off some steam in their new training arena by playing red rover. The venue was much larger than the testing range on lower one, it was possible to use Old Dawg to spice up the game and give Axelzero some practice with the controls and movement.

Daedo could have started building the new mechs immediately, but he wanted to wait. There would be learnings coming from Old Dawg that he wanted to implement and with the exception of Axelzero he wanted the squad focused on exos as they should be for this stage of their learning.

And the longer he waited, gave Old Dawg the prestige of being their only and best mech. While Dead Beat now contained much of their tech, Daedalus were mere sponsors in his case.

”Father made it to the finals!” Kang announced happily.

”Who is he up against?” Picard asked.

Vannier pulled up the stream and displayed it on the back wall of the arena. ”I got a sub. We can watch,” she said.

It was Dead Beat versus Kick Start, the unusual roundhouse kicking mech.

”It's not on for another hour,” Vannier noticed. ”Let's get an early dinner and watch it then. Everyone back to projects for an hour.”

The squad dispersed, leaving the exos where they stood. The robots would collect and take back to the workshop for repairs.

Daedo was wearing his helmet working in VR on thermal dynamics in fusion power systems.

Daedo: Myrmidon, we need to update this model. What were the other prime candidates available on the net? Maybe we can combine the best parts of a few different models.

Myrmidon: KAIST have one for sale. We skipped it and opted for an open source model as they are easily tweaked.

Daedo: I'd rather tweak this one. But I don't have time. Find us a programmer or AI who specialises in coding and thermal energy systems.

As they worked, a message came through from an unexpected source.

**Morganne Barran: Daedo. Are you available?

He sighed, he had been avoiding a discussion with her for a few weeks stating he was too busy.

**Daedo: I am, but I have a meeting in thirty minutes.

**Morganne Barran: Can I visit your workshop after the meeting? I am in the area.

**Daedo: No.

**Morganne Barran: Why not? Master Nader…

Daedo interrupted her

**Daedo: we can have a VR meeting now. That's the best I can do. I can call in Vannier and your brother.

**Morganne Barran: can we do it without my brother?

**Daedo: No.

Daedo opened another VR room, one without his research material, and invited the other two squad members.

**Barran: what's up?

**Daedo: We are going to have a VR meeting with Morganne.

**Barran: Can we tell her to get lost?

**Vannier: What did Master Nader say?

**Daedo: Leave it to me. Either of you can jump in if you feel the need.

Daedo invited Morganne Barran into the VR room, and she appeared instantly, waving at the trio. In VR you could appear as anything you wanted, but the current generation considered it bad form to appear anything but yourself. Changing clothes was permissible, and making yourself tiny, or something cute was also acceptable on occasion. The three Daedalus cadets appeared as they were, in their Daedalus bodysuits. Morganne Barran was in a bodysuit also but with a skirt and high boots adding flavour to her outfit.

**Morganne Barran: Thanks for meeting with me.

**Daedo: Thanks for agreeing to come in VR.

**Morganne Barran: Your results this term have been impressive, but I still think I can help. When can begin the review?

**Daedo: you are welcome to watch our tournament matches and submit a review of our tactics. You are also welcome to review our academic learning methods, schedule and progress.

**Morganne Barran: You want to exclude your research and offsite work from the review? That is not what Master Nader instructed me to do.

**Daedo: Master Nader has no authority over our research or workshop activities.