78 M1 - Term: 2, Round: 2 (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: 2
Daedalus Operating Capital: 140,000 bitcreds
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The squad loaded the EUDF carrier with their exos and railguns. Col. Martin had sent it on the Sunday morning to pick them, and their gear up.
”Did he say what exercise we're doing?” Axelzero asked Vannier.
She shook her head. It was the third time she had been asked this question, ”I copied you in, he stipulated the gear we should bring and that we were going to do an exercise with one of his teams. That was it.”
”Are your parents still on this base?” Mace asked Picard as she unloaded her hoverbin into the carrier.
Picard nodded, ”I checked on Friday, they'll be there.” EUDF soldiers moved around bases, even if they were stationed at a particular base, her parents could have been elsewhere for a course, exercise or operation.
Barran, Vannier and Daedo were talking to the driver, Technical Sergeant Philips. Unlike civilian vehicles, military vehicles were primarily driven by humans with computer aides or backups.
”The carrier does have an autopilot function,” Tech Sergeant Philips replied. He had been sent by Col. Martin to ensure the carrier was loaded properly and nothing went awry with the trip.
”Sorry that you had to come out to babysit us,” Vannier apologised.
”No problem cadet,” he responded, ”I'd only be doing equipment checks in the bay for the fourteenth time this week.”
”Mech bay?” Daedo asked, and the Sergeant nodded.
”Everything is stowed,” Picard intruded and reported.
”Let's see then,” the Sergeant replied before checking each bay to ensure the exos and gear was secured. When he was finished, he asked, ”Are we ready to deploy?”
”Yes Sergeant,” Picard answered. She was familiar with the terminology they should use and answered before another cadet called him sir. Cadets were to address officers as Sir while sergeants preferred them to use their rank as a title.
”Alright,” the Sergeant bawled, ”Everyone pile into the cabin.” The exos were hooked and hung to the outside of the carrier into bays which slid shut. A cadet or soldier could enter their exo from inside the carrier and then simply jump off once their exo was unhooked. The cabin was in the centre of the carrier with two rows of seating behind the driver's section. There was a hatch at the rear which doubled as a ramp when it was open.
Two robotic sentry guns sat atop the heavily armoured carrier at either end. Four small reactors drove a pair of large wheels each, giving the beastly vehicle redundancy in case one of the power sources was damaged. It was an older Marais model the MAEC4. Which was an acronym for the Marais Armoured Exo Carrier model four.
Nearly all civilian vehicles were hovercraft, but due to the magnetic technology they used, they were confined to roads. The exo carrier ran on eight large wheels with independent steering and drive on each axle. This allowed it to go almost anywhere. The MAEC4 was twelve metres long, almost four high due to the large wheels and it was almost four metres wide. It would have caused congestion on the roads, but civilian vehicles would automatically find the best path to their destination including routing around traffic hazards.
It was a bumpier ride than what they were used to travelling back and forth from the academy floating on air.
”See how awesome this is,” Barran remarked nodding and asking for affirmation.
”Actually its quite bumpy,” Vannier replied her voice jumping with each bump to accentuate her point. ”I'd rather use the rental hovervan.”
”Bah,” Barran replied grumpily. The was silence as they bumped along for five minutes.
”How much do I need to make to get one of these?” Barran was not one to admit defeat easily.
”A billion,” Axelzero replied and received a confused stare from Barran.
”How is that fair!” He exclaimed. The rest of the squad laughed.
”We all need motivation,” Vannier replied in between bouts of laughter.
Barran only looked miserable for a moment before declaring, ”It's only because of my strength of character that I can handle you all laughing at me. No one else here could handle it.” He stuck his chin up in the air signifying his superiority.
It wasn't a short journey to the EUDF base in Loire Valley which was compounded by the slow speed of the carrier. It was only able to get to one hundred and eighty kilometres per hour on the main highway. After an hour the carrier rolled into the base, and the cadets felt like protein shakes.
The carrier pulled up, and the back hatch yawned open. Colonel Martin was waiting for the squad as promised.
”Cadets welcome to EUDF Loire Valley Base,” he said warmly. ”Leave your gear in the carrier and follow me. We will begin with a tour, and the carrier can take your exos out to the range for the exercise later today.”
”What's the exercise?” Kang blurted. Although everyone was curious, she received glares for her lack of protocol.
Vannier immediately jumped in, ”Sir. We, cadets, are all curious regarding the details of the exercise.”
Picard put her arm around Kang and whispered something in her ear. She received a nod from Daedo, she now had Kang duty.
Colonel Martin had never been formal with the squad, but they had never been on his base before and additionally in front of his men. The cadets knew the protocols backwards with the exception of Kang.
”It's an exercise we call Escape from Alcatraz and rest assured there is no water. This is not an Augmented Reality training exercise like you are used to. It's real. To an extent. The enemy will be in exos, however, they are holding claws which will paint you. If you acquire four hundred mm square or more of paint, you are toast. You will be armed with railguns and polarized goo pellets. We can test these in your railguns shortly, and if they do not work, you will have to borrow ours. You will need to tag the creatures with one hundred grams of goo to incapacitate them.”
”Questions can wait until the exercise, think on it for now,” Col. Martin said holding up his palm to dissuade the plethora of questions.
It was immediately apparent that the base was surrounded by a humongous constructofoam wall. It was at least twelve metres tall and looked quite wide as exos were visible running on the top. The carrier was parked on the gravel beside another dozen similar vehicles.
Looking around while following Colonel Martin all the cadets could see was a wall, grass and bunkers. There were no topside buildings. The multiple bunkers were entrances for people and vehicles to an underground complex. There were a few vehicles staged topside and a half dozen VTOL landing pads. The pads would lower a craft underground, there were no topside hangers.
”There are twenty thousand troops on this base at any given time, it's the second largest in the EUDF with Krakow base hosting thirty thousand.” Col. Martin began his lecture while walking.
”All these bunkers are entrance points, and they are scattered across the range for various purposes,” Col. Martin said while indicating a few bunkers.
”Let's go down and look at the fun stuff,” he said smiling. Col. Martin led the squad to the main bunker at the end of the gravel driveway for want of a better term. ”This is the main personnel entrance, let's get you scanned through security.” There was security at the gate, but it must have had orders or protocol to allow the carrier through.
The group went down a travellator. ”It's a big base, and we can't possibly see it all in a few hours. Everyone here can pilot a mech or an exo, we don't receive any funding for administrative, security or any other roles. We need enough room to store and maintain all the carriers, mechs and exos. Let alone twenty thousand bodies,” Col. Martin stated.