Daedalus 69 M1 - Term: 2, Round: 1

House Thoth, Squad Leader, Squad Zero

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

Term: 2, Round: 1

Daedalus Operating Capital: 130,000 bitcreds

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The tribulations of Friday were long forgotten, the young cadets spent little time dwelling on the past when they were consumed with gauntlets, studies and research.

On the weekend the obstacle course was replaced with a long run, which kept getting longer throughout the first term. Their first runs were eight kilometres, and now they ran up to fifteen. More than that was not advisable, so they focused on getting times down and kept the maximum distance to fifteen kays.

"How did you come up with a signing bonus?" Barran asked Daedo.

"They used to have them in CyberMech with pro-teams," Daedo replied while they ran.

"I thought you never joined a team," Barran asked.

"No, I stayed freelance. They paid me per match," Daedo answered.

"Oh I get it, you saw signing bonuses when they tried to sign you," Barran observed.

"Why didn't you ever join a team?" Vannier asked.

Daedo was able to effect a slight shrug as they ran, "I didn't want to become part of a group and follow orders I guess."

"Look at you now!" Vannier said with a laugh.

"Yeah, it wasn't as bad as I thought," Daedo reminisced.

"Er," Barran observed, "Maybe cos you're giving the orders usually?"

The cadets discussed the plan for their meeting in the afternoon with the Kangs while they ran. Keeping the pace well within their best allowed them to talk easily. When pushed Daedo and Vannier couldn't talk at all. Barran never seemed to have that issue.

When the squad arrived back at the workshop, Daedo found that Cisse had arrived and was down on lower two.

Her lab was a ma.s.s of pipes, cylinders, wires and heavy reinforcement. The last adding both rea.s.surance and trepidation to Daedo.

"Good morning Cisse," Daedo said politely.

She stood and gave a salute, she only received a head shake in return. "Cisse, only people in the Military salute each other, and there are tons of rules about it."

"Oh, I like to feel I am part of the squad," she explained.

"Sure, we can register a private military organisation under Daedalus, you can sign up and then you can have another thousand rules to follow. Sound good?" Daedo teased.

"Ah. I think I'll pa.s.s," Cisse replied.

"I want to start digging into all the details of the prototype, can you walk me through the plans?" Daedo asked.

"Sure sure, let's go virtual, it'll be easier," Cisse responded.

Donning their helmets, they entered the virtual s.p.a.ce where Cisse brought up the complicated plans for the Troika reactor prototype. She walked him through all the stages and began to explain the challenges.

"While good in theory, even with the best available designs we are struggling with particle acceleration and control," Cisse stated.

"Is this why there are no anti-matter annihilators in use?" Daedo asked.

"Pretty much. There are several issues, containment, cost of energy of the containment, size of containment and the key issue separation and control of particles," Cisse stated.

"The cylinder you are currently using is at what temperature?" Daedo asked.

"Three Kelvin," Cisse stated.

"We have enough power for the accelerator and the cooling?" Daedo asked.

"I added a second Fusion reactor to the building, between that the lithium plasma and the local embedded network we are good," Cisse explained.

"Yeah, I noticed the second, what's its rating?" Daedo asked.

The pair continued to dig into all the technical aspects of the design. Daedo felt like they were years off and needed breakthroughs in a several of the supporting technologies. The plasma, laser control, the magnetic fields and s.h.i.+elding. And these supporting technologies needed to use less energy than what was being created. Even if this was all conquered, they would have something that could fit into a building or a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p. Far too large for a Mech and especially an exo.

"You are working on laser control, do we need help with the other three?" Daedo asked.

Cisse nodded sadly. "I thought we could at least get a prototype up and running, but the laser control alone will take me an indefinite amount of time. The magnetic fields are fine for fusion, but for these subatomic particles, we need better containment otherwise we don't control the reaction to the degree required."

"Ok," Daedo replied. He had no idea what Nader had in mind, but he would do as she asked. If she could find experts to help with the problematic areas then it would speed up their development, anything would be an improvement to the current status.

Daedo didn't need to tell Cisse to be careful. Her legs and memories were a constant reminder of what can go wrong.

He headed back to the main workshop floor. Old Dawg had been stripped down to his frame during the holidays, and while the new designs weren't ready, there was no reason they couldn't add the hydraulic mesh used on the exos to Old Dawg. His frame was covered with the unique power delivery system which doubles as an insulating armour.

Actuators were connected to all of Old Dawg's joints he would now be able to move under his own power once the cold fusion reactor was in place. Daedo had decided for the one large unit rather than a few micros. The weight to power gain for increasing the size was better than proportional, and the redundancy and delivery gains for having multiple micros would be offset by staging lithium plasma power storage units at each of the key conduit junctions.

Ikaros suggested, "Let's get the reactor in so its ready for your visitors." He was finis.h.i.+ng off the lithium plasma storage installation by hand. The robots were not fully programmed for this sort of work, while a.s.sembling exos was automated, other tasks they had to be driven manually. Ikaros preferred to do the delicate work by hand, as opposed to voice or other remote control of a robot. That didn't stop him having them lift the heavy parts.

"Jack, bring over the reactor on from storage bay seventeen," Ikaros ordered Jack his heavy lifting robot. Jack was on four wheels and able to lift up to ten tonnes depending on the angle and reach. This number dropped quickly to one tonne at his maximum reach. Anything heavier they used the overhead crane, which spanned the main workshop, it was rated at forty tonnes.

"Thanks, Dad. As soon as that is in can you begin the initialisation sequence please?" Daedo asked.

Ikaros nodded, "I'll have Axelzero walk him as soon as the lithium has charge as well."

Axelzero nodded excitedly, "Can't wait." The meeting with the Kangs had Vannier, Daedo and Barran. Mace was busy with her projects, that left Axelzero and Picard who could a.s.sist Ikaros with getting Old Dawg ready.

"They're here," Barran announced entering the workshop. Vannier led the Kangs into the workshop area to begin the tour and the cadet's plan. She proceeded to introduce everyone again, they had not met Ikaros, but they had met all the cadets at the dinner.

"This is a nice workshop," Mr Kang said politely.

"Do you have something like this for Dead Beat?" Vannier asked.

Mr Kang shook his head, "Only my garage in Korea. We rent s.p.a.ce or pay for mechanics here in the EU."

"Do you partic.i.p.ate in the Asian Pro League as well?" Barran asked.

"Yes we did, we thought it would be better creds over here though. So we came," Mr Kang replied. So far So-Ra had been silent with a neutral look on her face. She neither smiled nor scowled, which was a positive.

"Let's finish the tour," Vannier said. Before leading the Kangs through all the workshop rooms, lower one and the testing facilities and lastly the upstairs part which were accommodation and living facilities.

There was plenty of room in the elevator for the group of five, it was a goods lift. Capable of transporting the exos, robots and equipment from the ground floor down to lower one or lower two.

"What's on lower two?" Mr Kang asked looking at the controls. He noticed the cadets did not include it in the tour.

"Our power engineer is manufacturing tailored reactors. She also has some prototypes set up down there, it's a restricted area. Only Daedo, robots and Cissee are permitted," Vannier mentioned.

"And I wouldn't be either, but I am working with her on some of the technical designs," Daedo mentioned.

"I must admit I am impressed with your setup," Mr Kang said.

"Thanks, Mr Kang. What do you think So-Ra?" Daedo asked.

"It's ok I guess," So-Ra answered softly. She was amazed at the foundry, weaving and plating machines. To her it wasn't a workshop, Daedalus could build a Mech with only raw materials. It far surpa.s.sed the fabricators made available to them when they rented a workshop. Even Daedalus fabricators had the heads changed by their mechanic to be more precise and flexible in the types of work they did.

"Let's take a look at Old Dawg," Barran announced and the group moved to the old Mech they had been retrofitting for the past month.

Old Dawg had been stripped back to his frame, everything was removed, and then Daedo had the robots work off any corrosion. The frame was in good shape, after an electrolytic bath it was good as new.

Old Dawg now stood with the exo mesh underarmour and power delivery technology attached to his frame.

"This is our technology added to an old frame," Barran stated and then let Old Dawg do the talking with Axelzero in control.

She walked the mech around while Barran tapped his foot, he sent her a message. Axelzero bent the knees and then jumped with Old Dawg. The six-metre mech took off into the air, his feet getting up to three metres off the ground in the yard outside of the workshop.

"Holy," Mr Kang said. Although Old Dawg didn't have plate armour covering the mesh, it was still impressive.

Old Dawg walked over to the foam construct wall the cadets had prepared for this demo, Axelzero twisted to the left and then quickly to the right while throwing a jab at the wall. Old Dawgs mesh covered frame hand left a large indentation but it also pushed the construct foam back by a metre.

"Okay, we didn't secure the constructofoam properly, but you can see the power delivery from the mark and the fact Old Dawg pushed back what was a hundred tonne opposing ma.s.s," Barran commented on the demonstration and nodded to Axelzero for feeding him the numbers and terminology.

Old Dawg concluded with a bow before walking back into the workshop.

"We have everything we need to work on mechs, exos, weapons and even manufacture our own composites," Barran concluded the tour. The group walked back to the upstairs area and sat at the dining table which doubled as a meeting table.

"Mr Kang," Barran said brightly, "We really want So-Ra to join us at the Academy and as part of Daedalus. I would like to point out that Daedalus has been doing well since our last meeting, but… look. Why don't you tell us what you want out of life, for both you and So-Ra. I am sure we can work together to create a win-win scenario."

Mr Kang was surprised that Barran was able to talk like an expert negotiator. These cadets kept surprising him. He looked at So-Ra and wondered if she would like it, would she thrive or would they make her life a misery with pressure and work.

He had been thinking about it since their first meeting in Munich. The implications of following him around working on Dead Beat could lead to better things for her. But is that what she wanted. Attending an Academy and completing all six years she could do anything. From working for Svarski to starting her own company. There were many considerations by joining this group. Mr Kang needed to a.s.sist but also protect So-Ra.

"I would like my daughter to attend the Academy very much," Mr Kang said finally. "I also want So-Ra to be happy. I don't want her to be taken advantage of, and I am concerned about giving all her breakthroughs away. We have had offers from others in the pro league. Good offers to armour their mechs like Dead Beat."

"But then you wouldn't have an advantage, Mr Kang," Barran pointed out.

Mr Kang nodded, it was the very reason he hadn't agreed to any deals yet.

"Mr Kang we have an offer of a partners.h.i.+p for you and So-Ra," Vannier began her tone milder than Barran's, kinder and gentler.

Vannier continued with her gentle presentation bringing up a screen showing the key aspects, "Daedalus want to sponsor Dead Beat for five seasons, for the full 50k bitcreds in advance. In addition, we would like to repair and improve Dead Beat here in our workshop at no cost. Because we are partners. And we want Dead Beat to do well with our name as the manufacturer."

Mr Kang watched the presentation keenly and didn't interrupt even if he had misgivings about stating Daedalus as the manufacturer.

"Second item. We will sponsor So-Ra into Fortescue Academy, not only financially, we will ensure she succeeds. This will last the full six years. This is worth over 20k bitcreds for tuition, and that is before costs like bodysuits, exos, etc."

"Third item. So-Ra will become a shareholder in Daedalus and work as part of our R and D team in her specialised areas. The offer is for fifty shares, with a bonus of ten shares each year. This will equate to a total of no less than two percent contracted equity protecting her from dilution."

"All we ask in return is that So-Ra does her best and that all her discoveries belong to Daedalus," Daedo concluded.

Mr Kang was thinking hard during the entire presentation. He was impressed the cadets had found the sponsors.h.i.+p credits in such a short time.

"I have questions," Mr Kang said, "Did you borrow the bitcreds or did the company earn them?"

Barran pulled up a revenue sheet showing the recent royalty and grants they recently received. "We are not relying on So-Ra's IP to make creds Mr Kang. She will benefit from all the discoveries coming from Daedo, Mace, Cisse and the rest of the team. We are working on technologies which will blow your mind. The exo you saw, we will get that listed as standard equipment with the EUDF. And that is just for starters."

Mr Kang nodded. Daedalus was much more than he had imagined in Munich. He looked at So-Ra.

"What do you think my love?" Mr Kang asked.

So-Ra did not want to answer this question in front of the three cadets, but her father left her with little choice. She had been thinking about going to the Academy since the meeting in Munich but had said nothing to her Father. She did not want to squash his dreams of winning the pro league. Attending a military Academy, especially a tier three was not something she thought would ever be possible for her. But it was now.

"I am not some weak rich kid," So-Ra said firmly and gave Daedo, Barran and Vannier a steely stare. "If I come to the Academy I won't stand for being pushed around."

Daedo smiled at So-Ra, "We don't get pushed around. And if you are worried about our squad, don't, my AI rightly cla.s.sified everyone in Daedalus and the squad as family. We are inviting you to become part of our family."