Daedalus 60 M1 - Term: 1 To 2 - Break

House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero

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

Term: 2, Round: (holiday)

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"Har Daedo, you owe me a chocolate thickshake," Barran roared, "can't believe you bet on Dead Beat."

"His durability was incredibly high compared to all the other Mechs," Daedo replied.

"Yeah, but Smack Ninja beat Kick Start, and that Mech rocked. So, Smack Ninja had to rock harder. He will go all the way now," Barran stated confidently.

"a.s.suming he doesn't get banned for cheating," Daedo said softly. The Axel bodysuit sensors picked up the faint micro-bursts and Myrmidon tracked down where they were coming from through simple triangulation. When Myrmidon informed Daedo, he was gobsmacked that the pair who owned Smack Ninja would do such a thing.

The cadets sat through the final which was not as exciting as the semi-final with Dead Beat. Smack Ninja again used a micro-burst interference cheat to ensure its victory. Daedo was torn whether to inform the authorities or not. In the end, he decided not, if Smack Ninja was smart enough to beat the adjudicators, then it was fair game. There was a risk to using the cheat and an equal reward. Similar to other risky strategies that could be employed in battle.

"I want to see Dead Beat," Daedo stated when they were discussing what to do next. It was their last night in Munich. Most were heading back to the workshop with the exception of Vannier and Axelzero who had to spend the rest of the break with their families.

"Is there a way to get a backstage pa.s.s?" Vannier asked peering at Barran.

Barran shrugged, "You have to know someone," he said after a moment.

None of the squad or their families had any contacts from amongst the league or the compet.i.tors. They moved in different circles. Different universes. Most of the pro league were more like Daedo, coming up from the great unwashed and bettering their lot. Starting with nothing and either crowdfunding some capital or duking it out in the garage leagues until they had enough capital to enter the pro league. And to survive in the pro league, they had to be good, very good, at building, piloting, attracting sponsors and probably gambling.

"We sorta know someone," Vannier mentioned.

Barran nodded, "Smack Ninja. But, they will probably be the hardest to get in and see. Since they won the final."

"If you can find their contact, I know of something that will get us in," Daedo added.

"Like?" Vannier and Barran turned to Daedo who just shrugged and smiled.

"Ok, ok, I'll see if they are in my family's DB," Barran said uncomfortably. After a minute of searching. "Woah, they owe some creds to finance. I have a Sebastian Cordala contact for a P.loan where Smack Ninja is listed as capital."

"That could be red or black beard," Axelzero offered her input to which Barran nodded.

"Ok Daedo, what are the magic words to get an audience?" Barran asked.

"Micro-burst 834.22khz five-second intervals," Daedo said to everyone's surprise.

"What does that even mean?" Barran began to ask before adding, "oh don't worry. I am sure they will understand." Barran proceeded to send a message to a Sebastian Cordala t.i.tled Cadets and Micro-Burst.

Mace whispered conspiratorily, "I think Daedo caught them cheating."

"Thanks to Axel corp sensors," Daedo mentioned nodding to Axelzero.

She looked at him accusingly, "we all have the same sensors." And indicated the entire squad with a sweep of her hands.

Daedo smiled, "but there is only one Myrmidon." And he tapped his cybernetic implant behind his ear.

"I'm so jealous," Mace stated. She had become so comfortable with Daedo over the last week, she would never have been so open and talkative in the past.

"Are the sessions working?" Daedo asked. The results would not be immediate, but Daedo and Myrmidon had constructed sessions for all the Cadets to run through with their AI. And he expected that they would see some results by now.

"Yes. We are improving. Slowly," Mace answered solemnly.

"Alright," Barran announced, "That was quick. They want to meet."

"Flick me the thread," Daedo asked as soon as Barran sent it through Daedo contacted Sebastian Cordala.

*Daedo: don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. I just want to meet Dead Beat's engineer in return for keeping quiet.*

*Seb: whateva kid. Ya know yer taking a chance by blackmailing us. How do ya know we ain't crims who would kill ya?*

*Daedo: because if anything happens to me or my friends, your secret will certainly get out. And I am not asking for creds, I just want to meet the brains behind Dead Beat.*

*Seb: I must admit, it's the strangest blackmail request I eva heard of. Come down to the loading dock kid, and I will get ya in.*

"I'm going down to the loading dock," Daedo announced.

"How many of us can come?" Barran asked.

"One, we didn't discuss an exact number," Daedo replied.

"Ok, Picard goes with you for protection," Barran stated.

"You don't want to come?" Daedo asked.

"I'm guessing you used that info to push your way in, so no, I will stay out and contact EUsec if I need to," Barran replied. All his usual banter shelved. He took his role as security chief seriously.

"I'll patch you all into my suit's feed," Daedo said as he began to move.

Picard hurried to catch up."We aren't expecting trouble are we?" She asked. Daedo gave a quick shake of his head in answer. After a few minutes of searching for the loading dock, they found Seb leaning against a wall smoking something unhealthy.

"Oh it's you," Seb said with his raspy voice. With a flick of his head, he extinguished the stick and added, "follow me." It wasn't long before there were in a maze of corridors which Seb's ID granted them access.

"I hope ya are good for yer word kid," Seb said standing in front of mechbay two.

"He's not in the habit of negging a deal if that's what you mean Smack Ninja," Picard said sternly while standing slightly in front of Daedo.

"You kids some sort of team?" Seb asked at the last, "never heard of Daedalus."

"It's our company," Daedo answered, "this place is huge where is Dead Beat?" Mech bay two was a communal bay for half of the unseeded compet.i.tors. Most of which were packing up, loading hover bins and jacks.

"How should I know," Seb replied with a shrug, "I just know he's in two." Seb resisted the urge to ask the kid how he uncovered the micro-blast, but the less they talked about it, the better. As long as the league didn't find out he was golden.

Daedo dashed down the line of pro league mechs looking for Dead Beats colouring of gunmetal grey. A few of the mechs had been packed down, where the main body parts were dismantled into five separate pieces.

There were almost thirty mechs in mech bay two, fifteen on each side of the long central avenue. The avenue was currently occupied with large containers of gear from the early exits trying to leave the venue.

"There," Picard said pointing. At the end of the row was the unmistakeable gunmetal grey mech Dead Beat. Most mechs had some colour scheme, where Dead Beat persona was he couldn't care less for the pomp and pageantry that his compet.i.tors went to.

The pair rushed down to the last section of the bay and Daedo began to look for the engineer or pilot, anyone.

Dead Beat was slowly being dismantled and not into five sections, piece by piece was coming off and thrown into hoverbins. Every plate and strut, no matter the size was being pulled off by little bots which were basically a soccer sized ball with arms and legs.

The once pristine facility was covered in lubricants, black powder and small shards of metal. But for all the activity Daedo couldn't see anyone. Using the bodysuit's sensors he had Myrmidon scan the surrounding area. The thermal and sonic sensors picked up someone high up on a ledge.

"I'm going to look up there," Daedo informed Picard while pointing to a five-metre by two-metre platform ten metres high up on the rear wall. There was no grappler handy, so Daedo scaled up the section separator which fortunately consisted of a box-shaped frame.

Ten metres is a long way up, but it was nothing he hadn't done a hundred times on the obstacle course.

When Daedo got to the ledge, he was surprised to see a girl, laying on her back using a control screen to presumably direct the bots below. She was covered in black soot, just like their section of the bay. It was difficult for him to tell what she looked like since it was caked on fairly thick. It was likely her hair was jet black, but, that could be the soot covering up another colour.

"Hey," Daedo said.

"Get lost. I'm busy can't you see," the girl said. She spoke with an exotic accent, she didn't sound like she was from the EU. She was also unsurprised by his sudden appearance due to the control screen showing what the bots were sensing.

"Is that your Mech? Dead Beat?" Daedo asked.

"No," she replied.

"Then who's is it?" Daedo pressed.

"If I tell you will you go away?" the girl responded with a request.

"Sure," Daedo answered.

"It's my fathers," she said simply.

Daedo considered asking where her Father was but decided he could just wait down below and he would show up eventually. Allowing him to stick to the deal. He scaled down the ladder like structure where Picard was waiting for him.

"What's that in your hand?" Daedo asked Picard who was holding something.

She replied and put it away immediately, "spray," she laughed sheepishly, "in case you fell."

Daedo gave her a hurt look which she waved away as merely precautionary.

"Why are you carrying first aid spray anyway?" Daedo asked.

"Always come prepared," Picard answered. And she did. It was one of the things he liked about her. Picard carried a reinforced backpack which hugged her bodysuit from her neck down to her waist.

"What else have you got in there?" Daedo asked after she put the spray away.

After what seemed like ten minutes Picard finished listing off the items and their uses that she carried in her backpack.

"What are we waiting for?" She asked.

"The owner to return," Daedo replied while pointing at what was remained of Dead Beat.

They sat down at the edge of the avenue and chatted about the upcoming week, what training Daedo and Picard did for the last week. They discussed the melee weapon Picard should work on next term and decided it would be both s.h.i.+eld and swordlance, but both really needed input from a metallurgist expert.

"For now design the overall dimensions and any effects," Daedo summarised.

"But an arc will require power, do we have the power to spare?" Picard asked knowing there were many important pieces of equipment vying for power and one of the strengths of melee was it drew none and worked off the kinetic potential delivered by the pilot and exo.

"Work out a design, we can look at the draw versus damage and then decide if its worth it or not," Daedo replied. "We can't make that decision without knowing the specifics."

"Should the size changed based on who is wielding it?" Picard asked.

"Potentially, that's a good idea to maximise effectiveness for everyone. And everyone is growing, taller and stronger, so it's a moving target. The only issue is we have to provide the adjudicator with a sample for each version," Daedo replied.

"I might stick with two versions, to begin with then, one for the taller and one for the shorter squad members," she said in a teasing tone patting Daedo on the head.

Daedo began to wonder when the father would return, he looked up the avenue and saw a short man walking towards them.

Daedo stood, "ah h.e.l.lo sir," he said as the man arrived looking them up and down.

The man had Asian features, he bowed slightly to which Daedo and Picard bowed lower in return as he was their elder.

"What is it you want young man?" the Asian man asked in the same exotic accent as presumably his daughter from the platform.

"I'm looking for the person who created the compounds used in Dead Beat's construction," Daedo answered.

"Ah, I see," the man answered, "so you worked out what his real strength is."

"It wasn't hard," Daedo answered, "it was pretty obvious the piloting and structural design were poor. But your Mech composite is leagues above everything else. This is what interests me. Are you the metallurgist sir?"

The man huffed, "I was the pilot and designed the Mech! You young man are extremely rude." He went red in the face and was about to yell at Daedo further.

"But accurate," the daughter said. She had climbed down from the platform and was now standing behind them. "Father, are we able to leave? Are we now in debt? Do I need to keep dismantling Dead Beat?"

The man was hesitant, "ah, uh.." he stuttered before he finally answered, "the winnings are enough to keep us afloat. But this is not to be discussed in front of strangers, So-Ra."

So-Ra turned to Daedo, "why do you want to find the metallurgist?"

"Because I need a great one," Daedo answered matter of factly.

So-Ra tilted her head, but was silent, implying for Daedo to continue.

"Daedalus is in need of a metallurgist of this calibre," Daedo answered pointing to Dead Beat.

"Is Daedalus your pro Mech?" So-Ra asked circling Daedo pointing to the red wording Daedalus on his jumpsuit.

"They are just children So-Ra," the Father stated in a Korean dialect.

"So am I father," So-Ra replied, "but they look like they have creds. They were able to aptly a.s.sess the Mech's and your capabilities." So-Ra and her Father switched languages when they spoke together. However, Myrmidon was able to translate real-time by using a simple software tool from the net.

Daedo looked at Picard, "I am out of my depth we need Barran and Vannier here." He then turned to address the Father and Daughter.

"We have creds and are willing to make a deal with you, but I am just a cadet at Fortescue Military Academy, so I am not the right person to make this deal. I just came here to find the brains behind Dead Beat's composite," Daedo said calmly.

"You attend a Military Academy?" the Father asked, his interest peaked.

Daedo and Picard nodded. "Yes sir," he replied.

"Daughter they have many creds," the Father said in Korean before tuning back to Daedo and putting his arm around his shoulder. "Young cadet, you are most welcome to visit us. We are very pleased," he then looked at his daughter and then back to Daedo. "The metallurgist you seek is my Daughter, she is very talented no?"

So-Ra did not look happy with her Father and went back to dismantling Dead Beat. Mumbling something in Korean which Myrmidon reported the software was unable to translate properly, it came out as s.e.xual organs and garden shears.

"Ah," Daedo said, he was getting further out of his depth. He really just wanted to find the person, he had no idea what to do after he achieved that goal. He should have brought Barran or Vannier instead of Picard. She was just as much at a loss as he was.

"Tell me about this Daedalus," the Father enquired, "How can we work together for mutual benefit."

"We can discuss this tonight at dinner?" Daedo asked in return. "We need the Daedalus Business Manager and Communications person to help."

"Oh," the Father said, "do you need the adults to help? That is ok. We can meet in a few hours after we get Dead Beat packed away and get cleaned up. My beautiful daughter is all dirty, tsk tsk. My name is Kang Lee, and my daughter is Kang So-Ra. Here are my contact details. You send through the dinner appointment details, and we will be there."