Daedalus 42 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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Durand. Squad Twelve, M2. Rank 172.

[[[Commentary]]]

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All those mods on the M3TS1 (M3 Thoth Squad 1 p.r.o.nounced Metsi by the announcer) look…interesting. It is yet to be seen if they actually do anything useful. As we all know the more adventurous the mod, the more spectacular the results. And not necessarily the results you want.

If all of those laser-guided missiles. .h.i.t the mark, we will toast Claezio, the evil genius inventor of M3TS1. And Claezio what's with the blue shockwear? What if you get itchy and scratch your arm?

After seeing Barran jnr, the G.o.ddess' little brother in action, Claezio must have decided to pull the shockwear out of his closet of gadgets. I for one would not want to be hit with one of those cestuses…wait….cestii.. I have been informed. Thanks, Zane. Folks. Zane is my AI, and he is great at looking up stuff on the fly.

Oh and that brings me to…me. I am Durand. Selected by the Masters of M1 and M3 to be the official announcer of this battle to the death. Well, the death of someone's reputation at least. As I am in M2, I am unbiased. I hate both squads equally! Just kidding Master Nader. Seriously…I am kidding.

Oh, enough of my rambling the troops are on the move. Everyone countdown with me.

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And there goes the loud beep. How exciting. All this technology and all they can manage is AR numbers and a long beep. Come on FoMA (Fortescue Military Academy) install something with a micron more jazz will you?

M1 cadets I hope you all have your spectator AR activated or this will be a boring battle noobs. Master Nader that was said with love.

There goes Barran and his accomplice in the other heavy…Thanks Zane it is Gaumont the forgettable who we will now refer to as FG (Forgettable Gaumont). And all the little munchkins are not far behind. I am not sure if it's their height or their unusual exos. They look like miniature cyborgs from the Izano Chronicles. I am sure Axelzero and Mace are little over 1500mm, and their intrepid leader genius is definitely under 1500mm.

Oh yes people, if Claezio has met his match today, it is with the little Dynamo Daedo. Not only is he smart but he has never lost a Gauntlet round. Maybe his height gives him an unfair advantage with his tiny hitbox.

I am having trouble following all the blighters. Mace is bobbing through the buildings on the west. Axelzero on the east, and Daedo. where is he? Oh, he is using smoke already. Their snipers are hanging back gaining height in the rocky outcrops.

That brings us to the map. Today we have what seems to be a canyon. Certainly a great use of the Z axis. That's height and depth for all the M1 noobs. Mainly rocks with a few small trees and a lot of bush. Most of the cover will come from the rocky terrain. There is a small river running West to East and at this time we don't know how deep it is.

The map is running North to South in the longest section which is 600m for the noobs. M3TS1 is at the North End and M1TS0 at the South. (M1TS0 M1 Thoth Squad Zero p.r.o.nounced Mitso)

M3TS1 seem to be nestling in at their end of the map. Waiting for the eagre M1s to come to them. Unlike the less experienced M1s, they are staying close together. They probably want to focus fire on M1TS0 as they come into range. Not sure how this will work when they are down to the snipers.

Oh, that's cute. Barran jnr is waving at FG to hurry up. Come on little FG keep up! I don't know where all the mid-range M1TS0s are. Oh, there's one. They are sure good at sneaking in and out of boulders. They are so small every nook and cranny is cover to them.

Looking at M3TS1 is just boring in comparison. They look like they are the nerds that no one likes at the party. Just standing in the corner with no one to talk to. Move M3TS1. Take these geeks out of the lab and its like they have no idea what to do. If it was an S1 from another House, they would at least be looking for the most favourable terrain that suited their awesome weapons.

Barran jnr and FG are closing. We will soon have some action folks. Keep your eyes peeled for the munchkin brigade hot on their heels.

M3TS1 must see the M1TS0 vanguard. They are charging right at them. Oh yes. Look. They have perfected the girly man run. Zigging and Zagging. I have to hand it to FG, he has carried that s.h.i.+eld all the way holding it out front. I know I couldn't do that. It's no surprise with Barran jnr, but FG you go boy.

If anyone doesn't know, Barran Junior's sister, the G.o.ddess, will be joining us for expert post-battle a.n.a.lysis.

Oh, here we go missiles are launching at Junior right now. They are ignoring FG. It's like his superpower. Boom, I can feel the vibrations from my box. This is awesome! The battle kb shows no change. (kb stands for Killboard. A shortcut term describing a dashboard of results which a user can dig deeper to see statistics on nearly every aspect of the match)

There's still a lot of smoke. What's happened to Junior? Woah! His s.h.i.+eld is toast, he dropped the remnants. Wow, I can't believe that s.h.i.+eld took all those hits. No, wait!. Look at the ground there are so many scorch marks. Most of the missiles missed!?!

FG is a little ahead of Junior now. The little Barran stopped to take some of the hits on his s.h.i.+eld and either dodged the others, or the laser-guided system just isn't up to scratch. Back to the drawing board M3TS1.

All eight M3TS1 are lit in blue, they want to shock their opponents if they dare attempt a melee attack or s.h.i.+eld charge. Oh, this is going to be good. The power drain from the blue shockwear must be taking everything they have. Otherwise, M3TS1 is doing nothing. Time for some good ol fas.h.i.+on a.s.sault rifles M3TS1. No point standing there incapacitated because you are at max demand. Who are the noobs here?

Oh wait, two M3TS1 have lost their blue shockwear and are firing energy rifles. Wow, those rifles have phat blue beams. Nice! Not sure how much damage they do, but they sure look good. FG is covering Junior as they charge down the last twenty metres.

Smoke grenades!

Where did that come from?

d.a.m.n. Turn on your TV (thermal vision) peoples, maybe you will be able to see.

Argh, I got nothing. They probably have thermal dampeners on their bodysuits. I can't see sheet.

Where did FG and Junior go? They haven't exited the smokescreen.

Killboard. Mace Grenade Launcher Kills Serenado

Killboard. Daedo Grenade Launcher Kills Claezio

The Killboard also showed damage a.s.sist with Mace, Daedo and Axelzero all contributing damage to each kill. They were area attacking around Claezio, so the M3TS1 squad members near him were also taken down.

Holy s.h.i.+t. It's the munchkins. FG and Junior were decoys!!

Killboard. Mace Grenade Launcher kills Marques

d.a.m.n, M3TS1 are scattering. But it's quickly becoming a rout.

Killboard. Picard Railgun kills Bisset

Folks. I don't know whats happening it's so quick. M1TS0 are unleas.h.i.+ng a torrent of pain onto M3TS1, and they are just dropping like flies without fighting back. M1TS0 took down the leaders.h.i.+p first, and the other M3 cadets are now just running around panicking.

Let's have a closer look at the Railgun kill now the delay is nearly over.

The audience could tap into the point of view of a competing cadet, albeit with a time delay.

Picard is moving. Oh wow, she can climb. Those exos are no joke. Look at the grappler folks. She pulls herself up a vertical wall in seconds wasting no jumpjets until the top to land on her feet.

Oh, that's a long range. She hits from here? It's like three hundred metres. Did you hear that? It sounded like an attack command. (A short burst of noise came through the POV feed, but it was distorted to the viewers.)

Bam! She shot directly at Bisset. Let's follow the round. Holy sheet. Headshot from three hundred metres and Bisset was scampering. Ok next. She's aiming for the centre of the body. Who is that? Desmarais? Ok, she gets an a.s.sist on that one. She isn't moving from her position. No need. Haha, Dupont thinks he is in cover. She is so high she can shoot the top of his head. Oh…we're on delay. He's already dead!

What? We were watching Picard for a minute and its over. It's all over!

I guess its time to trawl through the POVs and review.

Quick vote. Spam your answer which cadet to watch first.

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Votes from viewers began to stream into Durand.

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Oh, you people have no imagination. Daedo it is. We will do Mace second.

Haha. He isn't even firing much. He is just barking orders. All those chirps are the distorted voice comms. Holy. He is just lobbing in grenades blindly from cover. He must be using vision from another cadet. Well, this is boring. Let's move to Mace.

She's moving fast. She can see nearly all of M3TS1. Look at them. Totally oblivious. What is she doing? Jumpjets or Grapple? Where is she? Scrolling out. Oh, she's on the side of a cliff hanging on with her grappler. Grappler one hand and Launcher in the other. She's like a monkey throwing rocks!

Oh wow. Look she is painting targets for Daedo and the others. Not only did M3TS1 not know how stuffed they were. We didn't either!

For expert a.n.a.lysis, we have a guest speaker. Morganne Barran, the G.o.ddess, last year she was Thoths highest ranking cadet in M3. Coming in at fifth while killing it in Tech, Math, AI and Physics.

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Durand: Barran Senior. G.o.ddess. Thank you for coming.

Morganne Barran: Stop calling me G.o.ddess. And Senior. Barran-M is what we have landed on for occasions such as these, as we are both in zero squads.

Durand: Yes Maam.

Morganne Barran: Sigh. I'm sixteen. Don't call me Maam either. Can we just move to the a.n.a.lysis?

Durand: Yes…Squirm…Barran M

Morganne Barran: It's fairly simple. M3TS1, as you put it, suck b.a.l.l.s. Inferior equipment is only the beginning. Tactics. Piloting. Gunnery were leagues apart. After watching that debacle, I would give them zero chance of beating M1TS0 in a hundred matches in a row.

Durand: quite scathing. Can you talk about M1TS0 some as they will now meet M3TS0 in almost an hour?

Morganne Barran: I don't expect it to be much different. Even if squad zeros equipment is much better than squad one, they aren't in the same league when it comes to tactics, piloting and gunnery. Like most of Thoth, they have been disregarding the physical aspects believing they need only to focus on the science. To all of the House Thoth cadets listening to me now. Especially M1. Yes, work to become a great engineer, but until you start specialising in U1 do not disregard the physical and tactical arts. By improving your mastery, it will only inform you of what you should be inventing.

My gosh. M1Squad zero were only using basic grapplers and grenade launchers. Nothing special! But how they used them was the difference. And to be supported by those Railguns. They were the breakout weapon today. To think they developed that Railgun themselves in nine weeks. I am astonished. Not to mention their exo. I think it is cla.s.sed as a medium now, but it has better movement than a standard mesh.

Durand: is it true that Daedo is Daedalus from CyberMech?

Morganne Barran: how would I know?

Durand: your brother is in his squad.

Morganne Barran: Do you have an older sister?

Durand: yes.

Morganne Barran: and what secrets do you tell her?

Durand: point taken. Thank you for your time. Can you come back after the next battle for another summary?

Morganne Barran: No.

Durand squirmed in his chair and did not dare ask why not.

The next battle will start in almost an hour Thoth Cadets. And I am looking forward to it. We will break for forty minutes and come back for the pre-battle lineup.

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Vannier brushed some dirt off her shoulder. "That was easier than I thought it would be," she directed at no one in particular. Mostly she received slight nods all around.

Daedo approached Gaumont, "you did well. The cover you provided Barran saved him from going down. The timing was impeccable."

Gaumont smiled. "Yeah, well they were only firing at him. It was a no-brainer. I thought of giving him my s.h.i.+eld after his crumbled, but there wasn't time to discuss it."

"Just throw it at me next time," Barran replied. "No need to discuss. I'll get the hint from the flying s.h.i.+eld."

"We can work on these next term as part of your tech project," Daedo said indicating the s.h.i.+elds. "It would be nice if they could soak more damage with higher resistance at least."

Gaumont continued, "the structure could be enhanced to take more raw damage before breaking down, and if we add a modulating EMR s.h.i.+eld, depending on our opposition, we could possibly improve the resistance."

Barran added, "and add a big a.s.s spike to the front for face stabbing."

"In a perfect world the s.h.i.+eld would soak up kinetic or other energy types, store it, and you release that at your opponent," Daedo added.

"Holy c.r.a.p! You can do that? Do that," Barran exclaimed.

"The point is, you two will be doing it," Daedo reminded him.

Barran patted Gaumont on the shoulder, "yep no problem. Hey Gaumont." Which was Barran speak for Gaumont doing most of the work.

Gaumont rolled his eyes as Daedo turned back to Vannier who was pinging him.

"We have a small problem. Axelzero sprained her ankle and will need to go to medical," Vannier announced.

"Go go!" Daedo urged Axelzero.

"I might be late getting back," she replied anxiously.

"No matter, the longer we stand around he talking about it, the more chance of that happening. Go. That's an order," Daedo said for the very first time.

Vannier nodded quickly picking up Axelzero between herself and Picard until they could get a gurney or some sort of vehicle. Once they were on the travelator, she would no longer have to walk.

"Barran," Daedo called. "Sorry, Axelzero I know this is embarra.s.sing. Barran," he said again as Barran come over. "Pick her up and run to the travelator please."

"Can do," he said with a swift salute. Barran proceeded to whisk her off her feet and began to run.

Vannier ran after and started to send messages back to Daedo.

Vannier: thanks. She didn't want to go.

Daedo: drop her off and come back with Barran. We can go with six, and if they fix her in time, she can always run back.

Vannier: we tried the first aid spray, and it did nothing. Sorry, it took so long to work out we needed to send her.

Daedo: no problem. Let me know when you're on your way back.

"Cadet Daedo," the Master from M3 approached the M1 squad leader. He was middle-aged, about sixty, black hair with streaks of grey over his ears. Master Granger stopped in front of Daedo starring down at him. Trying to look imposing Daedo surmised.

"Master Granger?" Daedo enquired after a quick salute.

Mater Granger cleared his throat and straightened his back. "There is no need for the second match. You are through to the Tier one tournament in M3." Master Granger announced formerly.

Daedo nodded and was about to thank him.

But Master Granger cut him off, "Good luck. You will need it, Cadet." There was a slight tone in his delivery that Daedo couldn't pick as derisive or just angry. It didn't matter Daedo forgot the slight in an instant.

He saluted again and thanked the Master who left promptly.

"That's a load off," Gaumont mentioned with Picard nodding in agreement.

"Should we tell Vannier that Barran no longer needs to carry Axelzero?" Mace asked.

Daedo shrugged, and Gaumont laughed. But he sent the missive anyway.

Before they finished packing up their equipment Morganne Barran arrived. Daedo looked at Barran's older sister. It was their second meeting.

Like her brother she had blonde hair and compared to Daedo she was tall, almost 1700mm in height. She was sixteen and in U1, the first of the upper years. Daedo was not attracted to many girls, unlike Brice Barran, it was not something he dwelled on. But Barran-M did make his heart beat a little faster, and he wasn't exactly sure why.

"Squad Zero, well done," Barran-M announced she saluted Daedo before he could salute her. "I'm a big fan of yours," she directed at Daedo.

Daedo blushed. It was a new sensation for him.

Gaumont heard an imperceptible exasperated sigh from Mace. He looked from Mace to Daedo to Barran-M trying to work out what was going on.

"Ah, why?" Daedo bl.u.s.tered back after a short pause while he found his words.

Barran-M laughed which had a surprising hoa.r.s.e quality coming through the high pitched sound. It wasn't unattractive, it made her seem different. Barran-M was confident in herself just like her little brother. However, she lacked any signs of conceitedness.

"Why?" She asked rhetorically. "Are you fis.h.i.+ng for compliments?" She shook her head, meaning he wasn't going to get any. "You are smart enough to work it out."

"Until you came along, Barran-M was the highest ranked Thoth Cadet in Middle years," Mace offered.

"Yes, but the best I ever achieved was third," Barran-M said looking at Mace who was currently ranked second. "And I'm not in M anymore. Thank the stars!" The cadets were ranked differently in Upper, U1 to U3, as they no longer competed head to head in most of their subjects. They were focusing their work on their speciality subjects.

"Anyway," Barran-M continued. "On behalf of Thoth cadets in all year levels, I would like to both Thank and Curse you." She beamed at their confusion.

Daedo looked at Mace who just shrugged, but she texted she would explain later.

"When you wrap this up," Barran-M swept her arm indicating their equipment, "I will meet you back at your quarters. Master Nader and my Father both want me to chat with you."

Mace texted Daedo that now she was confused as well.