Daedalus 46 M1 - Term: 1, Round: 5

House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero

M1 Rank: 1/1275, Tier 3 M-Rank: Null

Term: 1, Round: 5

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Author's note: As there are many matches I have chosen to use different perspectives to deliver. This is to keep it interesting with the added value of informing the reader on other aspects of the world. There was the M2 announcer perspective. Then Daedo and Myrmidon watching a match together and now we have some Alumni spectators.

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The smaller of the two topside arenas was lined with a kilometre of boxes situated above the stadium seating and terraced areas. The standard boxes were where most of the alumni, supporters, and parents socialized. It was in one of these boxes that a trader, Andre Mercia, a 2130 graduate of the Fortescue Military Academy, also known, as alumni.

Andre glanced through the gla.s.s down onto the arena floor. The M1s were still finishing their first group matches, and usually, he would spend this time mixing and networking. But this year M1 had some interesting cadets, and surprisingly they were from Thoth.

The gla.s.s of the box acted as a HUD and AR overlay. With basic killboard stats and adding in all the elements that came with an AR battle from plasma bolts to art on the arena foam constructs.

Andre did have some fond memories of his time at the Academy, and it had changed quite a lot since he attended twelve to almost twenty years ago. He could barely remember his own exo battles and working as an independent trader he rarely used the skills he had learned, although the connections he had made were invaluable.

Although these days his most valuable connections were with the Templars. A military focused company with their own Academy in tier three. And with zero guilt he would submit a report on Fortescue after each and every tournament. A report which detailed equipment, strategy, and skill of the cadets. And when he wasn't paying close attention to the M3 and U3 tier one matches, he would socialize and network in the Marais or another box.

It was business. Andre did not feel disloyal. He never liked the Fortescue Group and felt no qualms in sending reports to the Templars. They did pay him in creds for a report, he was given preferred supplier status as a Trader. Which meant as long as he could get the right price for a deal, it was usually his. It was quite lucrative. And certainly worth the effort.

Sophie Marais was the CEO of Marais industries which specialized in the design and manufacture of carriers. Whether they were for military use or logistics, Marais took pride in the quality of their vehicles. Her husband Cillian was a talented engineer and head of the Design team.

Both Andre and Sophie were from House Osiris and the same year level in the Academy. He was always welcome in their box and usually took up the invitation.

"Ah, Andre," Sophie approached one of their most devoted supporters. She couldn't remember him missing a tournament. She realized that it was part of his business to network, but he always followed the important matches closely exchanging with Cillian all the finer points of the tactics and loadouts.

"It's good to see you again Sophie. Thanks for having me," Andre replied.

Sophie laughed, "like I could deny my husband of your company. He would have no one to geek out with."

Andre smiled, "oh I don't know. Stanley Martin is in the Military. He has insights that none of us lay people do."

Sophie nodded and smiled politely, "but he is not always here. Where you sir, are steadfast."

Sophie chatted with Andre for a while before moving on. As the host, she took her duty seriously to touch base with everyone. It was probably PR for Marais Industries, in a sense, and just as much a part of their business activities as it was for him.

Andre wanted to watch the most important match of the group. It was about to start, and fortunately, Cillian made his way to his side, his insights into their equipment would be valuable.

"My boy Jeram will have to watch out for that squad," Cillian said as an introduction.

"What do you mean?" Andre asked. Jeram was in M3 squad one. He was in Osiris as was his mother. Where Cillian was from the equivalent of Thoth from another Academy in Germany, Mercedes. Cillian wasn't always a Marais, but he was certainly one now. Andre often wondered did the beautiful and talented Sophie marry Cillian to strengthen her company. They were not so different, he and Sophie. They did what was required.

"This squad will be back tomorrow for Tier one M3 group two," Cillian stated succinctly.

Andre was surprised, talented M2 squads going up a level was rare. M1 squads competing in M3 in Term 1 was…it never happened.

"Why am I just hearing about this?" Andre asked.

"I only just found out myself. We should probably pay more attention to the cadet commentary," Cillian answered.

Andre laughed, "no. I couldn't stand the hours of slang and drivel to get one gem. It's fine, " he said waving his hand dismissing the ch.o.r.e, "anything important will eventually come through to us."

"They have a fairly standard formation for a squad zero, two, three, two," Cillian observed.

"The Horus squad are lining up as four, four again with mixed range loadouts," Andre added.

"An outdated strategy. I guess everything old becomes new again at some stage," Cillian surmised.

Andre shook his head. On previous form, Horus was going to lose and lose badly. That did not matter to him. He was now eager for more information on Thoth Squad zero. This was exactly the sort of talent Templar's wanted to know about. Some of this squad would prove troublesome in a couple of years, although it was possible Templars would be promoted out of Tier 3 by then.

"What do you think of their exos? Looking at the movement of the mediums and even the heavies, these things are good," Andre asked.

"There is something different about them," Cillian speculated, "it looks to me the armour has not been sacrificed, yet they have more power while staying within reg size. I see a lot of mesh below the plates. The plates are actually quite thin." Cillian began to dig into killboard stats while Andre watched them run.

"The Heavies are throwing caution to the wind," Andre mentioned. "You better watch now."

Andre was warning Cillian to drop his investigation into the stats. He wouldn't want to miss the action as it was likely not to take long before one squad got on top. The Thoth heavies, their Vanguard, were bearing down on Horus at a rapid pace.

"I'm not sure what their strategy is," Andre admitted while he witnessed the heavies take on fire without dodging or attempting to use cover. They just charged at full speed.

"So quick," Cillian breathed. "The taller cadet, he's only M1, but he is good. And he is in Thoth!"

"Barran," Andre offered. "Rings a bell." He had heard the name before, the cadet's family name or company.

"Did you see that leap! He saved all his jump jets for the last sixty metres. Surely he would leave some for retreat," Cillian contemplated.

"I am beginning to understand the strategy," Andre offered. Cillian said nothing, watching the match he just waved his hand to indicate, go on, share.

"A simple no holes barred approach. Caution to the wind. From the vanguard specifically," Andre offered. Although Andre was not a technician in Cillian's league he had been watching, studying and reporting on these matches for years.

Cillian nodded, "the difference in equipment is ma.s.sive. I have seen better exos, especially in the inter matches, but in this match, Thoth really doesn't need much strategy. Just attack, attack, attack and they will win."

"So rather than inform the M3 squads they are facing tomorrow of some of their tactics they are just brute forcing it. Their leader is smart. Do you think their Master is running the show?" Andre asked. It was possible the strategy was coming from the House Master and not the squad itself.

"Master Nader. Don't know much about him. He's only been in the Academy a few years, and this is the first as a Master. He was AI Chief in upper," Cillian offered.

"So a new Master and a breakout squad for Thoth?" Andre contemplated. The question was rhetorical.

"New and different indeed," Cillian replied, "Stanley is going to love this tomorrow."

Andre smiled. Stanley Martin was coming for the M3 matches and would offer more insights that he could use. Martin was a mech pilot for EU Defence. A career soldier or officer. Whatever they thought of themselves. The standing defence forces got larger and more expensive to maintain, every year. Andre sighed thinking about the tax implications.

Reacting to and misinterpreting his sigh Cillian asked, "you don't like Stanley?"

Andre shook his head, "on the contrary. I love hearing his insights. I was sighing because he is missing this today."

"Good point," Cillian said, "I am sure I can send him a file dump of the match data. I will probably use their first match when they were serious. Or the Shu match later on. This one is rather brutally straightforward."

"Ah that first match was versus Osiris, and they didn't kill a single Thoth," Andre reminded Cillian.

"Oh, he doesn't care about Osiris," Cillian said with a shake of his head. "He cares about good performances and the Academy being promoted," Cillian replied.

Andre watched as the two heavies finished off the first group of four Horus cadets. Surprisingly they were both still standing. They even took on some friendly fire from the mids and long-range Thoth support.

"I really like how Horus are dodging and attacking the Vanguard with everything they have. All the while they have taken more damage from the mids and longs," Cillian a.n.a.lysed.

"Understandable, there are five cadets from that group," Andre answered.

"Each," Cillian said, "the Vanguard have done less than thirty percent of the damage."

Andre whistled. He would have never guessed that looking at the mayhem.

"The long-range are even past the mid in damage output," Cillian added.

"The mids are primarily aoe aren't they?" Andre asked. {aoe = area of effect}

"That's probably why. They held back with the grenade launchers," Cillian answered.

"Mostly," Andre added. "There was still some friendly fire."

"That's par for the course for a melee Vanguard," Cillian stated.

"Where did they get their exos from? Are they a new design?" Andre knew that Cillian did not know the answer. But if prompted he may find out for tomorrow.

Cillian shrugged, "It's hard to tell by looking at them. But if I were to guess I would say," Cillian brought up some closeups of the movements of the mediums and heavies. He moved the vid forward and reverse making the holo perform a little dance. He moved the camera around the cadet to see from different angles.

"Yes, there is something I haven't seen before going on here. They are good, extraordinary for an M1 squad, now I am not surprised they qualified for M3. The way they are taking these other M1 squads down. Steamrolling them. It's what you would expect from an M3 squad if they were competing with M1," Cillian said.

He clapped his hands together once and beamed, "I am so looking forward to tomorrow."

"I'd hope so," Sophie interjected, "our son is competing tomorrow." Before kissing him on the cheek and walking on to another group of spectators.

And with that, the last four Horus cadets went down under a barrage of long and medium ranged fire as they focused on the rushing Thoth heavies. When the last Thoth heavy fell, only one Horus was still standing, and that cadet only lasted a few more seconds.

Thoth squad zero (2) def Horus squad two

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*Moreau: so much for going easy on us*

The squad leader of Horus Squad two texted Daedo.

*Daedo: we tried, but we aren't very good at going easy*

*Moreau: (laughter) good luck tomorrow*

*Daedo: you too for Wednesday. All you have to do is win your remaining matches, and you are through.*

*Moreau: oh that confident you will win all yours?*

*Daedo: yes*

*Moreau: (laughter) I think you are right. You totally pwned us.*

Moreau ended the conversation with the usual "bye" animation.

*Myrmidon: you're talking to the enemy*

*Daedo: she started it*

*Myrmidon: you are changing. First talking to teammates and now the enemy!*

*Daedo: a bit of a worry isn't it.*

*Myrmidon: I am not sure what group to put her in now.*

*Daedo: then make another group. "unsure."*

*Myrmidon: easier said than done. I would have to create a set of rules on how to deal with this group.*

*Daedo: at the moment she is an enemy. In the future, she may be an ally. The rest of the categorisation is up to you.*

*Myrmidon: how many people do you have in unsure?*

*Daedo: nearly all of them.*

Thoth Squad Zero were back in their House room, they had one match left against Shu. Even if they lost they would go through, but they had no intention of losing.

"When is the other group?" Barran asked.

"Later today," Vannier answered.

The exo Arena would be occupied for forty-eight hours over three days for all the M1 to M3 Tier group matches. It was a gruelling schedule if you wanted to watch them all, very few did. That was sixty group matches in all. The semi-finals were much easier to consume. Only six semis and then three finals on the Friday.

The attendance of adults would peak on Friday where they would watch all six Tier one finals across M1 to U3. The exo arena in the morning and the mech arena held pride of place in the afternoon.

"How is the equipment holding up?" Gaumont asked. Daedo, Mace, Axelzero and Picard were checking everything. Daedo took responsibilities for the exos, no one else understood them better than he did. Picard was responsible for the railgun weapons. Axelzero and Mace the accessories and other weapons such as the launcher. Vannier was free to look after moral and anything else that might crop up. Such as unannounced visits.

Master Nader entered with an unknown adult on her heels. She sent Daedo a somewhat cryptic message.

*Nader: yes or no?*

He looked past her. It was no one he knew. He shrugged.

"We are completing an equipment check. We still have one match in about forty minutes," Daedo said aloud.,

Nader nodded.

"This is Cillian Marais of Marais industries. Out of the sixty requests sent to me for an inspection and introduction I accepted only this one," Master Nader gave the weirdest introduction Cillian had ever received in his forty year life. Which was only heightened by his robotic voice.

Cillian found himself bowing in grat.i.tude. He wasn't an arrogant man, but he didn't usually bow to House Masters and thirteen-year-old cadets either.

"Master Nader has that effect on people. Please," Vannier said indicating that bowing was not necessary. She took his hand and introduced the squad politely. Daedo smiled, she was doing her job perfectly. The c.r.a.p stuff.

"Forty minutes?" Cillian said, "do you want me to come back later, after the last match?"

Vannier shook her head before Master Nader could rudely say something like, we wouldn't have let you in if that was our determination.

"No, no it's fine. We are not really pressured or anxious. Even if it is Shu, and they are very skilful, our equipment gives us too much of an advantage over them." Vannier qualified.

"I know. That's why I asked if I could visit your house staging room," Cillian said excitedly. "Where did you get all your equipment?" He knew to purchase everything would have been expensive. It would also take skill to change out parts, and even deciding what to buy.

"We designed and built it all," Vannier. Which wasn't exactly true they did purchase fluids, micropumps and other parts. She just didn't want to go into detail.

"All?" Cillian asked in disbelief. After a long pause, he stated, "you are M1 Term one."

"Yes," Vannier answered answering the rhetorical question politely and succinctly while offering no explanation. In her mind, none was needed.

"Can I take a closer look at the exo?" Cillian asked meekly.

Vannier did not even look at Daedo, "I am sorry sir. That is not permitted until our patent is in place."

Cillian took two steps back. He showed his palms indicating he had no intention to steal any IP. He was taken aback that it even occurred to the cadets. He wondered what he was like at thirteen, he was sure it was nothing like this.

Myrmidon showed Daedo a short vid.

*Myrmidon: our first day we met Jeram Marais. This is his father and Chief Technical Officer of Marais Industries. They manufacturer the mech and exo carriers as well as many types of logistical vehicles. VTOL craft included.*

Myrmidon then showed Daedo a few sheets of products in a few seconds. As the vehicles flashed by Daedo remembered the encounter. Despite being in M3 and squad one, Jeram was friendly to an unknown M1 cadet. From what he had learned since that encounter through experience and behavioural study is that spoke volumes about his character. Either that or he was a genius manipulator.

*Daedo: tell him to visit our workshop after we get the patent. I think he is a good guy.*

*Vannier: ok.*

"Sir?" Vannier began, "would you like to visit our workshop after the patent lodgement is confirmed?"

Cillian beamed, "oh very much." He paused in thought again. "You have your own workshop inside the Academy?" It was his understanding from Jeram that each house, not squad, had its own workshop. But this was Thoth, it was possible they received special treatment when it came to the engineering arts.

"No Sir," Vannier replied. "We have an off-campus workshop."

Daedo had finished his inspection and repair of the exos. He only had to change over a few micropumps. He checked the current match, and the one proceeding theirs had not started. They had twenty minutes at least.

Cillian was surprised, and it showed on his face. Before he could ask more questions, Master Nader intervened.

"It's time to leave the cadets to plan their next match," She intoned with her robotic voice.

Cillian was not upset, the Master was quite right. He felt fortunate to be allowed this close. He was looking forward to when he would be able to visit them in the future. The inner workings of the exo were intriguing. The fact that the cadets were patenting it meant it was of their own invention, it was a sufficiently new innovation or technique. If the exo was intriguing, the cadets themselves were fascinating.

He said his farewells and left the way he came. Andre was going to be ecstatic with what he was able to find out.