45 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 5 (2/2)

[[Daedo: Your Shu? I like how the trap, was laid, and Horus is answering. I accept your trap. Let's do it. It reminds me of a game.]]

[[Myrmidon: which one?]]

[[Daedo: a card game. Poker. When a player has a good hand, and the other player recognises it and still thinks theirs is better. Both players then keep upping the ante….unless of course, one was bluffing.]]

[[Myrmidon: we should practice this game.]]

[[Daedo: eh. We can watch adults play. It's illegal for us to gamble and it removes all the strategy when the game is played without creds.]]

[[Myrmidon: when did you study this game?]]

[[Daedo: before you were born. Statistics was in P5, and I used casino games for material.]]

[[Myrmidon: the moment of impact is passing. Lazard's companion lasted four seconds only. Damn! Lazard is down, eleven seconds and she was focused fired. The trap had only just begun.]]

[[Daedo: now they turn and run down the medium ranges.]]

[[Myrmidon: could it be a troika trap?]]

[[Daedo: we will see. Hey, where did you get that word?]]

[[Myrmidon: its Russian for a group of three. It suits better than just three.]]

[[Daedo: It could be a troika trap. We will know if the Shu medium range retreat.]]

[[Myrmidon: they are taking minor damage from the long-range Horus. As are Horus from the long-range Shu. But without Railguns, their long range have taken only one down in the first four minutes.]]

[[Daedo: one?]]

[[Myrmidon: is a few seconds.]]

[[Daedo: I see. That cadet was blocking for Moreau too, she was being targeted by Shu.]]

[[Myrmidon: always your tactic. Take down command first.]]

[[Daedo: simple but effective.]]

[[Myrmidon: what's the counter?]]

[[Daedo: several. We have used a few of them. Make command inaccessible and make them wast time looking. Make command the ultimate bait which if they take it puts them at a disadvantage. One we haven't used is decoy command.]]

[[Myrmidon: Shu are not retreating. They are trying to use mobility.]]

[[Daedo: Their leader is gone, and they are just doing what comes naturally. Move and Shoot. Shu are all about mobility. If they had the equipment to back it up, they would be a force to be reckoned with. And it seems that some equipment leaked down from Horus zero to Horus two despite our theories about Moreau being unpopular with Fortescue.]]

[[Myrmidon: why do not Shu purchase parts if they cannot build them?]]

[[Daedo: I do not know their circumstances or strategy we would have to ask them. It seems obvious to us that equipment must be improved, maybe they had not come to this conclusion yet.]]

[[Myrmidon: loss is a good teacher.]]

[[Daedo: agreed. We imagine losing and it's enough. But we will be tested tomorrow, if not today. Tomorrow we face the M3 squads, and I do not expect any advantage in equipment or skills.]]

[[Myrmidon: so just strategy?]]

[[Daedo: which is our forte, yes?]]

[[Myrmidon: yours maybe. My forte is calculation and information processing.]]

[[Daedo: its over.]]

[[Myrmidon: you win. And easily. Only two kills by Shu!]]

[[Daedo: that can happen even when its close. You just showed me the overall damage of Horus squad two. They soaked enough to almost kill three more amongst the six left standing.]]

[[Myrmidon: focus fire was lacking.]]

[[Daedo: if their leader is in the Vanguard they should at least assign a shot caller from the long or medium range cadets.]]

”How about that,” Gaumont announced, ”I would never have picked that outcome. Only two down and Horus squad two will probably make the semis now.”

M1 Tier 1: Group 1 Leader Board

Two points for a win plus 0.8 minus 0.1 for each squad member lost. Zero points for a loss.

Thoth Squad zero - 2 played - 5.4

Horus Squad two – 2 played – 5.2

Shu Squad zero – 2 played – 2.5

Osiris Squad one – 2 played - 0

Amun-Ra Squad one – 2 played 0

Shu's only chance now was if Horus beat Thoth. But it will be difficult for them to cheer for Horus. And they would also need to defeat Thoth or hope for other results to go their way. A tall order.

The next match went as follows

Amun-Ra squad one (6) def Osiris squad one

It was now time for Horus squad two to face Thoth squad zero. Their equipment checks were completed before the Horus Shu battle had finished, there was enough time between matches and pre-match start to pad out even the shortest of battles to fifteen minutes. With all the telemetry data coming out of the exos Myrmidon was aware of every malfunction. A manual check on the launchers and grapplers was required.

Squad zero was still using two pieces of equipment for the launcher and the grappler. However, it was Daedo's ultimate aim that these were combined into one. This would allow each of the liberos to carry two grapplers effectively. He would only commit to this if they lost nothing in reliability and effectiveness from the current model. Ideally, it would be improved on those fronts significantly as well.

Moreau and her squad stood in the coral. They looked relaxed after their victory over Shu. They didn't need to win this match, just all the others and they were through to the semi-finals.

After the pre-match introductions were done, again, it was getting monotonous, she walked past Daedo. She went out of her way before heading down to the Northern end of the arena.

”Don't make us look too bad,” she said softly and changed direction to catch up with her squad. Daedo looked on slightly surprised. No words came before she was gone.

”What did she say?” asked Axelzero seeing the exchange.

”She asked for your contact?” Barran inserted himself looking a little upset.

Axelzero tilted her head thinking and then shook it.

”She just said, don't make us look too bad,” Daedo commented.

”We don't need to hover over everything and everyone who comes into contact with Daedo,” Vannier lectured. She was a little disappointed at the helicopter mentality surrounding Daedo by most of the squad members. It went beyond protective.

Axelzero looked apologetic. Barran shrugged.

”We need to focus on the match,” Daedo said sternly, and he meant it. It was easy for him to be serious about a competitive match. He had spent over two years fighting pseudo professionally in CyberMech.

He switched to comms.

[[Daedo: Formation alpha. With a change of primary tactics. Barran and Gaumont. The Vanguard will charge in and take down as many as possible before you go down. I want you to rage. Deal damage without concern for your own protection. If they stick to two groups like their last match, you both go for the non-leader group.]]

[[Barran: that's simple. Sounds like fun.]]

[[Daedo: we will dps as much as we can from cover. You will have ample damage assistance. The two of you should be able to take down a group of four before you fold. Maybe more. If you do take down the four. Move directly to the leader's group. Don't hesitate.]]

Mace thought this would be interesting and wondered why Daedo chose this tactic. It was unlike him to throw away lives. He usually made the enemy pay for each decimal point of damage they did. Or fooled them somehow. Perhaps he was aiming to throw additional unpredictability into the mix due to the harder matches against M3 tomorrow.

That was it. This strategy had nothing to do with this battle. Mace thought. As usual, Daedo was thinking ahead.