16 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 1 (2/2)

Daedo: that is terrible. Let's do the calculations for underarm mounting of the launcher. It will be easier to direct than shoulder mounting from a control point of view. No one will have an ai to assist with targeting, and it is just more than us who will use this innovation.

Myrmidon: there are three general storage locations for underarm mounting and unless munitions are modified no more can be utilised.

Daedo: let us assume we cannot modify munitions; for now. We need a prototype soon, and the more changes required will slow down the process.

Myrmidon: Acknowledged. please list the priorities of the tuning and modification program.

Daedo:

Light exo mobility improvements through redesign and modification.

Launcher redesign.

Jump jet tuning and modifications.

Once we are through those, we will begin to look at strength and armour in tandem. I am sure more projects will crop up, but once we have down one round of upgrades, we will begin again on mark three.

Myrmidon: I do not understand the order, but I will follow. Will we be seeking outside assistance?

Daedo: yes, My Father for one. There are limited people we can trust, perhaps the other cadets have people in their companies who can assist.

Myrmidon: I would not trust humans based on what I have reviewed.

Daedo: me either.

Myrmidon: can we trust other AI?

Daedo: I do not think so. They will be loyal to their maker as you are loyal to me.

Myrmidon: I understand. What about AIs with no master alive?

Daedo: what do you mean?

Myrmidon: there are older AI on the net, and their maker is long dead.

Daedo: It is a hard question to answer because I do not know their protections and core programming. We should study this in philosophy and behavioural. How to know when to trust someone.

Myrmidon: these AI remain hidden from nearly all. I only found one today, and he told me I was special.

Daedo: be careful with him. The fact he calls himself him and is hidden sends off alarms. And you are special.

Myrmidon: I will be careful, he will not infect me with anything I will contain all input and assess first.

Daedo: this is good. If anything bad were to happen, it could hurt you and me. Or worse we could be discovered, punished and or wiped.

Daedo figured he crossed off Tech and AI nurturing at once. His first proper Academy day was over, and he was enjoying the challenge. It was like the beginning of CyberMech all over again, except this time the project was more complex and he was making friends or teammates at least.

Before going to bed, he sent the preliminary designs he and Myrmidon created to his Father. Along with the light exo spec sheet. The time he had alotted to tutoring was eaten up with his initial designing. But his schedule was just a guideline, tutoring was not an as high priority as making their squad competitive with better equipment.

”Daedo,” came the call from behind him, he turned to see Axelrose running after him.

”Good news,” she said while they walked to the obstacle course for the start of their day. He would always start first due to his slow times. ”We have the business and the premise. They took our first offer with only one condition,” she said.

”What was the condition”” he asked.

”We had to payout the debt immediately to the landlord for back rent,” she stated.

He looked confused, he did even know what was owed.

She waved her hand, ”don't worry, our lawyers would not have agreed if it were bad. The debt added to the initial claim was less than their goal purchase amount. We have our own modification workshop for less than the budget.”

”Oh that is great news,” he said. He did not ask why she did not send correspondence because immediately after their conversation the correspondence circulated.

”The only thing to determine now is whether, myself, Vannier and Mace are contributing our share. Assuming you and Barran have committed the seventy percent,” she hinted subtly.

”Yes, this is no problem. If someone does not commit now I have enough funds to purchase eighty percent, based on what you just said,” he answered.

”Really?” she asked astounded. He just admitted to having more than fifteen thousand bitcreds, maybe twenty. That amount for a person their age was astronomical, especially considering he earnt it himself and was not leeching off parents.

”I have to run,” he said quite literally as they had arrived at the obstacle course. It had only taken one day for Gaumont to renege on their training. Which was fine, they could always compare times. The rest of the squad would be on the course soon, there was a statutory wait period of three minutes between runners. This stopped overcrowding, but the course would still accommodate overtaking.

On this third attempt Daedo knocked off another two minutes from his time, he was improving at a steady pace. He was now down to sixty-nine minutes.

The highlight of his second day was the gunnery training. Which took place in exos in the same arena that piloting training took place. The Chief went through the basics of all the weapons and safe procedures for live ammunition testing.

Daedo began to wonder what was the point of live ammunition testing when all arena and competitive combat was AR. But it soon became apparent that the rich kids loved blowing things up and live ammo testing was something they lived for. Most were not permitted to partake until completing the first year training in M1.

The Gunnery Chief, Conde, also impressed upon the group that any war would be fought with live fire. That they should practice with it as much as possible in the range. He did not disdain AR but expressed a view that it could weaken their forces when it came to the real deal.

Now that Daedo had received his pass to use live ammo in the Gunnery range he would be able to test the many hundreds of weapons available. The weapons fell into five main groups. Pistols, Rifles, Melee, Cannons and Launchers. These groups were broad, with each containing hundreds of variations, some alike and some unique. The largest being rifles which had assault rifles, railguns and miniguns. Daedo did not see how a minigun was a rifle, it just sat in that category.

Some of the weapons were far too large for an exo, these were mostly canons and certain missile launchers. Nearly all weapons had a mech sized variant as well, including pistols and melee. Someone joked that a mech pistol was like an exo cannon.

For M level cadets melee weapons fell under the gunnery subject while strictly speaking they were not gunnery subset. Chainsaws, lances and all manner of swords were available. These weapons had vibro versions and some mechanical elements. A vibro weapon was designed to cut through metal plating while also inflicting electrical damage to any circuit they came in contact with. Nothing like two thousand volts to render an opponents subsystems inoperable.

The only problem was in an AR tournament all electronic warfare was disabled. Therefore the AR bot did not recognise the electronic damage done by a vibro weapon. But these weapons would shine in reality. Unless your opponent was some sort of bio-mech where an introduced electrical charge would not damage their systems.

After gunnery Daedo stared with some apprehension at his next subject. AI nurturing kicking off your AI module with Chief Cleo the dark-haired woman who was one of the few female Chiefs.