Chapter 143

The Daedalus Academy

Y: 2143 – 15 weeks until Southern Europe regional inter-academy first round.

Daedalus Financial Position: -39.3M bitcreds 

<break>

Mace strode down the corridor towards her squadroom. She exhaled in an attempt to dispel her frustration with Daedo before facing her squad. They were currently working on their individual projects whether they were academic or research in nature.

As she entered, she didn’t look or sound calm as she barked, “Jardine report.”

Jardine physically jumped before removing his helmet, “Mam. I’ve completed all six tutes and am ready for the test.”

Mace nodded once and said harshly, “I hope so you’re doing it after I finish collecting reports.” Then she turned her attention to the next cadet, “Cerny.” 

“Yes, Mam. All six tutes completed. I am ready.” She stood when answering. Both her and Jardine were two of the older and taller cadets. Both were fifteen and taller than Mace. Jardine was from Montreal and Cerny was from Prague.

Mace nodded to Cerny before addressing the Tokyo Cadet Saito she was sixteen but shorter than the two previous cadets. “Mam, I have passed all the spiderbot tutes.” She pulled up a screen showing status and grading. 

“Good,” Mace replied, “those skills will be tested.”

“Am I included in the test?” Khan asked. “I feel left out Mam.” He pouted.

“Shut up, or I’ll send you back to Cairo,” Mace stated harshly before she relented. “Just complete all the regular Cadet training. Did Gabe contact you through VR secure link yet?”

“No Mam,” Khan replied meekly.

“I’ll fix that. Expect contact soon.” She then turned to another male Cadet. “Colombo?”

The Sardinian Cadet jerked at the mention of his name, “Mam. Ah Eh. I’m stuck. These tutorial problems are ridiculous.”

“None completed?” She asked.

“No, Mam. I can’t crack any of them,” he replied.

Mace’s demeanour changed from aggressive to relaxed, “We will do one together after we’re finished with the security detail test. Block your schedule 1600 to 1700.”

“Yes Mam, sorry Mam,” Cadet Colombo responded.

She looked to another short male cadet, “I don’t see any breaches on anything above level one.”

“Sorry Mam,” the Singaporean Cadet replied politely.

“Koh. I thought you were good?” She challenged.

Koh shifted nervously, “The defences were written by a hacker Mam. Not as easy as conventional defences.”

“You need to get creative – and - you need new tools,” Mace replied. “I expect you to break through level two this week.”

“Carter!” Mace called.

“He’s up in manufacturing Mam,” Khan said.

She nodded. “You three - head to Arena Seven.”

Mace: Cadet Carter. The security detail test is being conducted now you need to view in VR. We can talk after the test regarding your projects.

Carter: Five minutes?

Mace: Now means now Cadet. Reports and test were scheduled for 1500. Arena 7.

Carter: Yes Mam. I’m joining now.

Mace joined the other three cadets in Arena 7. They had all received guidelines, but she still summarised for them, “I’m your VIP substitute and I will attempt to act as your charge would. Our intelligence has indicated a possible threat coming from the organisation. The intel states there is a chance they will attempt to capture your VIP alive. We are attending an Inter-Academy match in Barcelona. You’ve had time to study the environment and the itinerary, but the VIP may spontaneously change plans at any time. I hope you are prepared for this.”

Jardine, Cerny and Saito nodded. Unlike the VIP they were not in exos. The cadets were in adapted bodysuits, like the organisation's stealth suit.

Mace was in an exo and was being followed by Jardine and Cerny who flanked her forming a triangle. 

Saito was a further ten steps behind and entirely consumed with controlling six recon drones. She monitored six screens that only she could see and fed only vital information back to Cerny and Jardine. Their displays showed green in sectors that were clear and yellow in others. No threats were showing.

“I’m here,” Picard stated as she ran to Mace’s side. She had a shield. one-handed railgun and was also in an exo.

“Thanks,” Mace said. “I wanted this to be as realistic as possible for them.”

“No problem,” Picard replied. “But I think his new squad will be fulfilling this duty in the future. I’m too busy with inter-academy and my own squad apparently.”

“Just be yourself,” Mace replied.

After walking and chatting for a minute through the augmented reality stadium, Saito checked comms. “Check – zone two potential threat.” She announced.

“On it,” Jardine stated and bounded off.

“Secondary – zone three,” Saito said.

“Investigate?” Cerny asked. 

Mace grimaced but said nothing. Picard readied her shield.

“Back-up Jardine and investigate both zones together,” Saito suggested.

“Gotcha,” Cerny said and ran after Jardine. 

Before Jardine reported back, Saito updated, “Zone three. Confirmed three threats. They are on the move.” She immediately pinged the other two cadets’ HUDs. “Ugh,” she said, “I just lost a spider.”

“Blind?” Picard asked. And Saito immediately shared the screen with the Daedalus veteran. 

“No Mam,” Saito replied. “As you can see. I have a backup on overwatch.”

Picard turned to Mace, “Four incoming. Fight or flee?”

“Four? We fight,” she replied. “Loadouts?”

“Tranq guns and launchers,” Picard replied.

“They have EW Mam. They overloaded my first recon drone,” Saito replied.

“Engaging,” Jardine called over the comms before he slid into a corridor behind the four operatives. They were using advanced dampening devices. The same which were used against Mace and Daedo last year. But Carter had improved the sensors in their own stealth suits and recon drones to combat this. Jardine had a blurry outline of the enemy combatants.

It was at this moment Cerny arrived in front of the enemy and lobbed two goo grenades in their direction in quick succession before retreating. The AI enemy acted in surprise for a few moments and did not notice Jardine attack from behind. Three were stuck in the goo and he began punching and kicking.

“Sector six. Another four,” Saito announced. “I just lost another drone.”

Jardine did not panic and kept attacking the current batch. Cerny rejoined the fray by shooting the free operative with a charged round. As their stealth suit shorted, the operative became visible to all, and he was wounded in the shoulder.

Cerny did not wait to assist Jardine any longer she ran to sector six to intercept the second team. As she ran the stadium’s security system began to activate. A siren blasted warning spectators to evacuate. The security robots themselves were nowhere to be seen, yet. She was unhindered the dampeners and countermeasures in her new stealth suit rendered her almost invisible to regular sensors.

Saito shouted over the comms, “The second team is moving. Red dots are their current location - blue is the expected travel path.”

Cerny intercepted two of the operatives at the same time as six others surrounded the VIP from either end of the corridor. Saito had missed the third group. As Cerny exchanged fire with two, Picard and Mace fought back to back with Saito diving out of the line of fire.

Jardine joined the fight after Mace and Picard downed an enemy operative each. Saito was able to fire her semi-automatic pistol. All the rounds that the Daedalus stealth units fired were charged, but their ammo was limited in comparison to an exo with a railgun or launcher.

An operative detonated an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) which had an immediate effect on all combatants. The stealth suit operatives lost power but were able to move and use their shielded assault rifles or pistols. The shielding on the Daedalus operatives was not sufficient, they were completely shut down other than movement under their own power.

The exos reactors were shielded but many systems needed to reboot. They were immobile for a short time which felt like an eternity to Mace and Picard.

The pulse was followed by sleeping gas. Jardine, Cerny and Saito fell to the floor unconscious.

As Picard and Mace’s systems began to come back online, they breathed the gas as well. Their life support did not kick in quick enough to prevent them from being rendered unconscious as well. As they fell to the ground, the scenario went red.

Mace would have preferred for the scenario to continue in order to give the team a chance to overcome and escape, but there were limits to its current programming.

Mace stood and announced over comms, “Debriefing. The entire squad now.” She then turned to Picard, “Thanks.”

Picard removed her helmet and grimaced. “Not pretty. But that was a good scenario. Who created it?”

“I did the base program, but it was then sent to Master Haddad who had several people making adjustments including my father,” Mace replied.

Picard nodded. “Okay. I will leave you to tear strips off your squad.” She chuckled at her own comment as she left Mace.

From Jardine to Otis all seven of her cadets were present. “I’ve been making mistakes,” Mace began much to their surprise.

“Khan – we need more on the counter team. Consider it your secondary role. Colombo and Koh – likewise you will be joining Saito on surveillance. Carter, “ she said and paused. Everyone looked at the youngest cadet. “You have a lot of work to do. You won’t be getting a secondary assignment.”

“What about regular exo combat?” Jardine asked.

“Consider it wiped. I’ll talk to Master Haddad. We don’t have enough time to do everything everyone else is doing and take on a security role. There will be combat training, which is similar, but everything you do from now on will be directly related to our mission.”

“I’m sorry I stuffed up,” Cerny said. She looked concerned and contrite. 

Mace shook her head, “Everyone made errors. It quickly became obvious we lack equipment, personnel and tactics.”

Mace brought up a top-down 2D image of the scenario, “You shouldn’t be standing guard. We should all be hidden and working behind the scenes in terms of two. One surveillance and one operative.” She added positioning which they should have adopted.

“I will command next time we complete a scenario,” Mace stated seriously, “we have less than four months before we have an inter-academy away match. And then it will be real.”

She brought up a new table showing all the cadets and began filling the fields. Security operatives; Jardine, Cerny and Khan. Surveillance operatives; Saito, Koh and Colombo. “Carter and I will work on your loadouts but right now assume Assault Rifle with a grenade launcher for security. For surveillance drones and pistol. It may be a good idea to weaponize the drones.”

“That will increase the size of the spiderbots,” Carter said, “but perhaps we should go for full recon drones and just add countermeasures to keep them hidden.”

“That’s a good idea,” Mace replied, “if our enemy are operatives the size of the drones won’t matter.” She paused for a moment before adding. “Bring us all up to speed with what you’re working on Carter.”

The other cadets leaned forward in expectation. It was the first time they were included in this type of discussion. They usually received information second hand or when they were handed new equipment to test.

As he talked, Carter brought up images showing the designs. Some aspects were green, others yellow or red showing the status of the components.

“We have three major projects at the moment. The primary project is the improved stealth suit which is focused on adding physical enhancement and a small aurora shield utilising the most power we can get out of a microreactor. The second is the new assault rifle with emp shielding and increased round and grenade capacity. The third is a new EMP round. And now the fourth will now be adding the stealth suit camouflage technologies to a recon drone.”

“Are there any resources we can provide that will assist with your research?” Mace asked.

“Your assistance is valuable,” he stated indicating Mace.

She nodded, “I will help you as much as I can.”

He continued, “Adele’s assistance was amazing, but I think I’ve done as much as I can with the information she was able to provide. Ikaros is always helpful, but he has never worked on this type of equipment before.”

Milo Carter paused. He inhaled.

“Spill it,” Mace ordered, “tell me what you need. Let me worry about if it’s possible or not.”

He exhaled slowly as said quietly, “We really need my father.”

<break>

Six months ago.

Otis Carter was a former researcher for Svarski before they replaced him with an AI that he helped develop. For the last few years, he worked at home in his lab attempting to develop patents that could be sold on the IPO.

“Milo,” he called, “how are you going with your projects?” There was no answer. He messaged his son. Still no response. Otis stood and banged on his son’s door. When there was still no response, he disabled the lock and made his way in. It was the middle of the day surely his son wasn’t sleeping. They had just had breakfast a few hours ago.

In the middle of his room was a circular machine. His son was strapped in, wearing a bodysuit that he didn’t recognise and was bounding around inside the machine, as if in zero-G.

“Milo!” He shouted. “What the hell is this thing?”

Otis waited impatiently. His son was unresponsive for over three hours. He checked on him every thirty minutes.

When Milo finally appeared his father’s frustration had waned slightly, “What the hell are you doing in your room?” He asked in an even tone.

“It’s Daedalus equipment. I told you I applied,” Milo replied.

“Is that what came this morning?”

“Didn’t you notice?” Milo asked in reply.

“I was in VR working,” Otis stated. “You can’t trust companies son. You need to work for yourself. It’s the only way.”

“Daedalus is different Dad, and you know it.”

Otis grimaced, “It might be new. But it’s only a matter of time before it becomes just like the others.”

“Are Svarski still challenging every patent you submit?” Milo asked.

Otis bowed his head. “I can’t get a single one through. The bastards.”

“Keep trying Dad. I know you can do it. But I’m going to do everything I can to get into Daedalus Academy. I can’t help you right now. Not unless they reject me.”

Otis sighed sadly. “You will give them everything?” He paused and said with a slightly more upbeat tone, “I am okay son. Don’t worry about me. And I hope they treat you better. I really do.”

Milo smiled. “I have to pass through these games first. I’ve only just started, but my rank in The Tactician is improving.”

“Give me a closer look at that bodysuit,” Otis asked. He hummed and clicked his tongue as he inspected it. “Looks like an Axel or DaVinci make.”

“It’s Axel,” Milo replied. “Top of the range.”

Otis whistled. The bodysuit was worth as much as their home. “Tell me about these games they have you playing. I never heard of an Academy doing anything like this.”

<break>

Present day.

Gabe and Adele arrived at the address given to them by their daughter and activated the visitor alert.

An older gentleman came to the door, ten years their senior. “Who are you?” He asked sceptically.

“We’re from Daedalus,” and when he looked afraid for his son, Gabe quickly added, “your son is fine. We wanted to talk to you without using conventional comms.”

“My place is clean. We can talk inside,” Otis replied.

“Thank you,” Adele said smiling and shaking his hand.

“I thought Daedalus were all fourteen-year-old kids?” Otis asked as they followed him into the main room.

Adele laughed.

Gabe replied, “Yes. Our daughter is Mace.”

Otis raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Family business?” He asked.

“You could say that,” Gabe replied.

“So, what do you want?” Otis asked.

“You,” Gabe stated.

Otis laughed hoarsely. “Fool me once.” He said ambiguously.

“We know you once worked for Svarski,” Adele said. “It will not be the same.”

“Of course it will. Companies just use people and throw them away when they are no longer needed,” Otis said harshly.

Gabe said. “Daedalus isn’t going to sell your inventions. They will all be used internally.” He paused before adding, “Name your price. Anything you want.”

“Shares,” Otis asked.

“Sure. No problem,” Gabe replied. “You have been pre-approved for one thousand shares per year.” And before Otis could protest, he added, “There are only 120k shares in existence and you can review everyone’s allocation.”

Otis did the math quickly in his head and his mouth dropped to the floor. “What’s the catch?” He asked. The deal was ludicrously generous.

“Several,” Adele stated. “You are offered the same deal as the Master of the Academy and Daedo’s father. But Daedalus is a Military organisation. The shares are non-voting and attached to the corporation which is a subsidiary.”

“What use are they then?”

“If you live long enough they are worth millions if bitcreds,” Gabe replied.

“All your expenses are taken care of. You won’t need for anything,” Adele said.

“I still don’t get it,” Otis said.

“It’s simple. We need you,” Gabe replied. “We’re willing to give you whatever you need if you help us.”

“And none of my inventions will be patented with the IPO? You know I can’t get anything past the application stage?” Otis said.

Gabe shrugged, “We don’t really care. We will manufacture them and use them ourselves. Svarski be damned.”

“Now that,” Otis declared, “I like the sound of.”

He pondered the proposition for a moment longer before asking. “What about my son?”

Adele laughed, “Who do you think recommended you?”

Otis asked, “He’s already in the middle of all this? I thought he was a cadet?”

Gabe nodded, “All true. Do you need more information, or do you want to come and see for yourself?”

Otis stood. “We can leave anytime. I am alone, and all my work is here.” He tapped his implant. “But if anything doesn’t match what you’ve said. I’m out.”

Adele and Gabe stood as well. They both shook his hand and said, “Welcome to the family.”