39 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 4 (2/2)

”But still, M3?” she queried the challenge.

”The only issue I see is the exclusive deal we made with Shu M3,” Daedo replied.

”Oh,” Vannier said, and then after some thought, she looked up the terms of the deal. ”No we are fine, we agreed not to sell or give away exos to other M3 squads. We are M1,” she stated the last obvious fact not caring it was redundant information.

”Good, then we really have nothing to worry about,” Daedo responded. ”We will need to study our new opposition,” he said before adding, ”there are tonnes of streams we can access from their prior battles.”

”Why do you think Master Nader did this?” Vannier asked finally.

Daedo shrugged. Perhaps she wanted to challenge them. Or perhaps she meant it when she said they were preparing for war, so why wait, fight the best squads now. ”You can ask her, but I doubt you will get a straight answer,” Daedo said.

”You are going to tell the others,' Vannier announced suddenly.

Daedo smiled and nodded, ”sure.” He was the one to agree and knowing Vannier she didn't want to be yelled at for throwing the squad into the deep end.

Vannier called a meeting and gathered all the squad members in their common room by the time the pair arrived back from the Commander's offices topside.

”Where have you two been?” Barran asked.

”Topside,” Axelzero answered, she knew they had been summoned by Master Nader she was with Vannier before they left.

”We have some news,” Vannier announced and looked to Daedo. Everyone was quiet as the mood in the room became heavier because of Vannier's tone.

”We have been issued a challenge,” Daedo began.

Barran thumped their table, ”which idiot dares challenge us?”

”Master Nader,” Daedo answered succinctly.

Barran stared. The look on his face was priceless.

Axelzero made a sound of clearing her throat as the silence and tension spread.

”Master Nader,” Daedo continued, ”has petitioned and was successful with entering our squad to compete in the M3 tournament. In week nine we have matches with Thoth M3 squad zero and squad one. Depending on the results of those matches we will be competing in the M3 tournament in week ten as well as the M1 tournament.”

”Holy,” Barran exclaimed.

”Geez,” Gaumont said, ”um. Is this good or bad?”

Mace smiled, ”it's good. We can kick their ass.”

”Let's face it,” Picard added, ”M1 would have been too easy.”

Vannier looked at Axelzero, ”what do you think?”

”I'm worried, but it's exciting at the same time,” Axelzero replied.

”Can we do this Daedo?” Barran asked. Barran was always confident, but the idea of taking on M3 squads daunted him.

Daedo shrugged, ”let's find out. We have the exo, and our weapons are coming along. We need to refine our teamwork and tactics. From now on we will have a tactical meeting every night after Arena practice for a full session.”

Daedo stood and opened a large holodisplay, upon it was the loadouts of each cadet. ”The loadouts for the medium exos is versatile, Axelzero, Mace and myself are now carrying a mix of the medium range railgun, grappler and melee weapon. If needed one or more can switch over to a launcher, but if we all carry traps this may not be necessary. All of the squad will be equipped with a limited use ion shield.”

Daedo showed them the image of a fist-sized object and then activated the shield which surrounded the object in blue light which was projected. ”The shield will plug into your exo and will draw power from your reactor. It will compete for power with your jumpjets and other equipment so use it wisely.”

”What's the draw?” Mace asked.

”I can be certain until its finished, and the size will affect the draw, but it's in the ballpark of zero point zero five megajoules per second.” There were a few black faces, ”the jump jets draw double that point one megajoule per second and our new reactor can generate point one megajoule per second. We now have a total of three megajoules of storage in the lithium plasma.”

The cadets had been studying power consumption, heat generation, loads, runtime and the effects of loadouts on their reactor in tech studies. It was the foundation of exo operation and would also be critical to mech operation. Due to the size and type of reactors in mechs heat was an ongoing issue for a mech pilot on top of the power issue. The software behind the HUD would interpret generation, storage and consumption concisely into a bar graph, but it was essential the cadets understood what went into this bar graph and why.

Heat was not a factor in exos due to their size, weight and performance. They merely enhanced a soldiers speed, strength and operated a few pieces of equipment. Where a mech had to move around tonnes of metal under its own power. This difference was the difference between the two pieces of equipment generating a small amount of heat which was converted in an exo, to a large amount of excess heat which needed to be managed and dealt with in a mech. It was possible to design a mech which never generated excess heat, but usually, the temptation was to increase its speed, strength, jumping ability and loadout well above these levels.

Daedo had been adding as much lithium plasma as he could to the exo while staying within the rules and balancing it with the impact on hydraulic and armour components. He found as many unused crevices and pockets as possible connected the power conduit and increased the overall storage capacity of the medium and heavy exos. The cold fusion reactor would run equipment directly and charge the storage which would be accessed in a time of peak demand. Anything over point one megajoule a second which was the new peak generation of the cold fusion reactor Cisse built.

”The loadouts of Picard and Vannier are simple, even though their role is not,” Daedo continued. No one's role was simple if performed at its peak.

”That leaves us with the heavy loadout, which we have three main options to alternate. We need to start rotating these three and practising with them. Barran and Gaumont, create a training plan for my review today and we will start tonight,” Daedo finished.

”When will we start to use the heavy shield?” Gaumont asked.

”Now,” Daedo answered, ”the AR has a standard version you can just carry around the from the mech bay.”

”Ok,” Barran said, ”let me get this straight.” He brought up his own holodisplay with dozens of loadout options for his heavy exo.

”The main three are combinations of Gaumont and me using shield, melee weapons, minigun and launcher,” Barran continued and highlighted loadouts for himself marked B and Gaumont marked G.

”Why can't I use the minigun and shield combo?” Gaumont asked.

”Run it in the Gauntlet, and you'll see,” Barran responded. Barran was much stronger than Gaumont, and while the heavy exo increased their strength, Barran was starting from a much higher base. Carrying a minigun in one hand and a shield in the other was something which would probably overwhelm Gaumont and most other cadets.

”What about the plasma shotgun?” Axelzero asked.

”Not unless we improved it,” Barran responded, ”the minigun outperforms it in versatility, damage per second, range and power drain. It even carries more ammo in terms of space, weight versus damage.”

Daedo nodded, ”a project for term two or three.”

”Before we break up,” Daedo said, ”you have another task for the tactical meeting. We will have nine opponents and a few contenders for these spots from each House. Axelzero you have Horus, Mace - Osiris, Barran - Shu and Gaumont - Amun-Ra. Each tactical meeting you will research and present on each of these potential opponent's characteristics. I will do Thoth M3 and present tonight,” Daedo left Vannier out and himself to a degree. They would collate all the information and Vannier would check everyone's research.

The end of term tournament was a tiered tournament. Every squad would participate. But only the top two squads per house would participate in the main event. A round robin with two groups, each squad competed in a survival match versus the other fours squads in their group before progressing to the semis and then final.

The selection of the tier one squads was entirely up to the Master in charge of the year level. Which was probably why Master Nader interrupted the scheduling meeting to introduce M1 Squad zero into the M3 competition. This forced the Thoth M3 Master's hand, he was not able to deny them entry without at least a match against his most elite squads.