It was the semi-finals for the U1 mechs, Stanley Martin usually stood in the open area with Cillian and watched through the AR gla.s.s with one or two others. However today Sophie moved them into a large booth minutes before the first the match. The high backed chairs faced down onto the arena forming a large u shape. There was enough room for ten people, but at the moment Stanley was alone.
Cillian entered and spoke quickly, "ah sorry about the rush rush. We have some special guests." He motioned and said, "Jeram."
Jeram entered with seven cadets from none other than M1 Thoth squad zero. Stanley recognised the numbering and insignia immediately. Fortunately, they were facing Shu tomorrow and not Jeram"s Osiris squad.
Jeram looked to his Father, "Go on," Cillian said and looked back to the group. "Jeram can"t leave his squadmates to join us, that wouldn"t be polite."
Vannier noted how the family operated. They were made to feel welcome. Even organising Jeram to come to the entrance. And rather than pal around with them, he went back to his squad. She gave Daedo a look, and he returned an imperceptible nod.
"Ah Cadets," Cillian began. "This is Stanley Martin. I thought you would like to meet him as he currently serves in the EUDF as a colonel."
Stanley stood, nodded to Cillian and saluted the Cadets. Within a heartbeat, the cadets returned an at attention salute in unison. It was a misdemeanour that they did not salute first, but they were caught unawares.
"At ease cadets, I am not in uniform," Stanley informed them. Which was not inaccurate, he wore a leather jacket over his EUDF bodysuit.
Cillian introduced the cadets one by one. He pointed indicating where they take a seat. "It"s about to start," a fact which they were all aware.
Upper Academy matches operated with the six-metre mech cla.s.s with a plethora of rules and regulations. Defence forces around the planet used six-meter as the mainstay with twelve-metre mechs as the elite units.
The two competing squads were both zeros, one from Osiris and the other Amun-Ra. The mechs were coloured with splashes of dark green and red which reflected the house colours.
Osiris"s mechs lumbered in from the north where over a thousand metres to the south were Amun-Ra. This was a U1 match. If U1 was anything like M1, the mechs would not be retrofitted anywhere near the degree of the U3 mechs. However, U1 had the three years of experience from Middle Academy to draw on. It was doubtful they had done little or no modifications.
The mechs main weapons were autocannons, a.s.sault cannons and missile launchers. All with the ability to fire the twelve hundred metre range. The only impediment to an all-out blastathon was the terrain. Hills and valleys obscure views with a few large ma.s.ses of trees and a small lake.
Compared to exos, the mechs were quite slow. At best they reached a slow jog. Each squad had two lighter framed mechs with ma.s.sive jumpjets on their back. These mechs carried a single autocannon.
The a.s.sault cannon mechs were weighed down with thousands of rounds of ammo. Where the calibre of the autocannon was heavier, the rate of fire slower. An a.s.sault cannon was a mix between a minigun and a.s.sault rifle. Capable of ma.s.sive bursts of fire with the accompanying peak damage output.
However, these guns would overheat and run out of ammo at some stage. The group watched as both sides navigated the terrain, keeping the squads fairly tight, while not standing on top of one another.
As soon as Osiris pa.s.sed the first hill, one of its lighter mechs jumped up into the air. It came back down a few metres to the north.
"Scouting," Stanley offered and received nods from the cadets.
Daedo was inspecting the structural elements of the mechs while barely taking notice of the match particulars. Their feet were huge with four joints per leg; counting from the foot to the hip. Half of the mechs had a disc below the torso which would allow a full torso twist. Where the other half did not, the hips connected directly into the torso.
Four mechs had one arm and in lieu of the second arm had the autocannon embedded. Only one mech held a missile launcher the other four had them shoulder mounted.
The mechs designs for each cadet was dissimilar. It was as if each squad member had their own personal mech and worked on their own personal strategies.
It immediately made Daedo think of Gaumont and his att.i.tude at the beginning of term one.
"They"re not squads," Daedo announced louder than he wanted.
A few heads turned his way.
"What do you mean?" Vannier asked the question everyone wanted to.
"Look at their mechs. They are all different. Major structural differences, armour types, the torso connection to the legs is sometimes a disc and others direct connect. Even the autocannons are dissimilar. Mounted, held and with varying calibres," Daedo had more, but that was enough of a list for the reasoning.
"Are they testing different technologies?" Axelzero asked.
"Osiris and Amun-Ra testing in a semi-final?" Daedo asked back. He wasn"t sure, maybe they were.
"He"s right," Stanley stated, "they are not only competing against rival squads but each other."
Gaumont must have felt like making a declaration that he was not an outcast, but to his credit remained quiet. It was not that long ago Master Nader ordered him to spread Daedo"s methods to squad one.
The two squads soon clashed, if it wasn"t for the AR it would have been a very costly compet.i.tion. They soon blasted arms, legs and heads off each other.
Tactics revolved around range, focus fire and use of terrain. Osiris focused all mechs on the most injured or opportune target. If a mech did not have a LOS, it held fire to conserve ammunition and reduce heat.
As the battle wore on, mechs fell equally on both sides, they squads were closely matched.
"Why no shields?" Daedo asked no one in particular. If the lead Mech held a shield, it could sustain more damage, slowing down the casualties from their squad.
"No points for taking damage, only for dealing," Stanley answered.
Daedo shook his head. Vannier put a hand on his shoulder, "don"t worry, we won"t be like this."
"It"s not "us" I am worried about," Daedo answered.
Stanley sent Cillian a private message.
Stanley: interesting indeed. He grasps what the educators do not.
Cillian: this is not the way the cadets should be learning?
Cillian was not on the same page as Stanley and Daedo. He was a talented engineer who enjoyed supporting and a.n.a.lysing the Academy tournaments. He had not considered the wider implications of this strategy.
Stanley: it has its place. Not all of these cadets will enter the military. And they will come together in the inter-Academy tournaments. But that is only a handful. What the young cadet is talking about is turning a squad into an allied force where they all work together to progress. I daresay the alliance they build now will survive past U3 and the times are such the educators need to change the direction of all squads to this structure.
Cillian: what I see from my son. It seems times are changing. I am fairly sure his squad works together quite well.
Stanley: that may be. But there is evidence before us, this U1 tournament is a testament to the old way.
Mace leaned into Daedo and whispered, "do they realise we can hear them typing a mile away?"
Daedo: maybe they wanted a private conversation.
Mace: yeah. I agree with you. These mechs are c.r.a.p. I bet we could beat them next term if we wanted.
Daedo: I am hoping Munich will be better than this.
Mace: we should go to the expo as well as the tourney.
Daedo: there"s an expo?
Mace: yeah. Companies large and small sell stuff to all the amatuer mech enthusiasts.
Daedo: there"s a whole industry around these amatuer tourneys?
Mace: the prize money is insane. It makes CyberMech look like chicken feed.
"Boom," Barran yelled excitedly as an Osiris mech took down the last Amun-Ra.
Daedo and Mace had missed the last of the action.
Cillian asked, "drinks anyone? There will be a fifteen minutes before the next semi-final."
"We just drink water Sir," Picard answered before Barran could order something stupid.
Cillian nodded, "you take your training seriously indeed."
"Water for me to please Cillian," Stanley prompted.
To which Cillian sighed. "Ok, nine waters it is." In moments a robot arrived and poured nine gla.s.ses of chilled water directly from a hose connected to its chest.
"What did you make of that match cadets?" Cillian asked.
In turn, Barran, Picard, Mace, Gaumont and Vannier offered insights into the weapons, movements, tactics and accuracy of the two squads.
"Cadet Daedo, you haven"t offered an opinion," Colonel Stanley noticed.
Daedo shifted nervously, "I was disappointed. I stopped watching and started chatting to Mace about going to the Munich Amatuer tourney next week."
Stanley surmised that Daedo had nothing to learn from the U1 cadets and that wasn"t arrogance. It was merely a fact.