.
Osirus One was knocked out of the M3 semi-final by Shu one. Today had not been a great day for Cillian.
The mood in the box went from rowdy to sombre in a matter of thirty minutes. Many guests left after lunch to watch the Mech semi-finals. Normally very few would have stayed to watch an M1 exo final rather than four Mech matches consisting of U2 and U3 semis. But, many interested spectators wanted to see what the Thoth squad zero would do next.
Stanley and Cillian were alone, even Andre had left to watch the mechs.
"He"ll be ok," Stanley said.
"To lose by such a small margin is heartbreaking," Cillian said for the sixth time.
"Let"s watch what the recalcitrant Thoth squad do next. That will take your mind off it at least," Stanley wondered if Cillian was taking the close loss harder than his son Jeram.
"I"m surprised you know that word," Cillian chuckled.
"Just because I am in the Military doesn"t mean I"m stupid!" Stanley acted mortified.
"On the contrary, you have one of the keenest minds I know Colonel," Cillian said earnestly.
As time pa.s.sed from the ma.s.s forfeit, the adults calmed down. What was a ma.s.sive shock at 1030 was now something funny that happened at 1500. If it was an inter-Academy match, it would have been a different matter, but most viewed the inter-House compet.i.tion as a vehicle to pick the Academy team and for grading cadets.
"They"re in the corral," Stanely noted.
"What are their loadouts this time?" Cillian asked.
"Much the same as the last match. Even if they get desert again, this isn"t M3 Shu they are up against," Stanley mentioned.
"That was unfortunate," Cillian opined.
"They will learn to be prepared for all maps in future," Stanley added, "although, in reality, you would know where you were being dispatched."
"Wait, there are only six. One is missing." Cillian observed.
"What?" Stanley replied and took a closer look, "Gaumont is missing."
Six of Thoth zero lined up against seven of Amun-Ra zero.
Delcroix, Favre, Duval, Stuart and Deimos were rarely never ranked in the top ten cadets of M1, yet here they were in the final. The Amun-Ra squad focused on short-range high damage weapons and their combat skills.
Their weapon of choice was known as the blaster. It was a weapon with its historical roots as a shotgun where the ordnance had evolved into a munition which exploded into a small fireball after leaving the barrel. Its secondary explosion increased its velocity as well as creating a small superheated plasma ball. Also known as a fireball. It was the size of a small fist, with a thirty-millimetre radius at most.
The nature of the munition kept it as a low fire rate, short range weapon. Amun-Ra loved blasters. Some would speculate they should change the House Banner emblem to a blaster. However, it already looked like a fireball.
It was noticeable, but not surprising the Amun-Ra zero carried two blasters each. They did not dual wield the weapon, but the standard issue had a habit of overheating and jamming. Although the weapon did not shoot actual ordnance during the AR match, the AR adjudicator still calculated the chance that the weapon would overheat and shutdown.
"There are no surprises with the loadouts, but why are they missing a cadet? Is he injured?" Cillian asked, but no answer came.
The match began, and the map was revealed. It was a ruined city, blocked streets with rubble everywhere. Structures were toppled. However, plenty of height and cover remained. It was one of the most interesting types of terrain. Cadets agility and mobility played a major factor as well as the squads tactics.
"I am sure the little commander is breathing a sigh of relief," Cillian suggested.
"More like he is asking why didn"t they get this map for their last match," Stanley countered.
"I couldn"t interest you in a bet on the outcome?" Cillian proposed.
Stanley laughed, "Sure Thoth win with zero casualties. Ten bitcreds."
Cillian shook his head. He wasn"t taking that wager.
Stanley and Cillian watched as Thoth ran through the ruins to the centre. They were using their mobility to reach the tower at the centre of the map first. It was a communications tower, reaching twenty metres in height, by far the tallest structure.
Four cadets lay p.r.o.ne and spread out across the top of the structure, while two hid amongst the rubble below.
Amun-Ra did not want to approach the tower, they took cover within a hundred and fifty metres and waited.
The four Thoth on top of the tower held their position and waited.
"This is the problem with survival matches," Cillian observed.
"No objective to fight over, hmm," Stanley
The two hidden Thoth cadets, Mace and Axelzero, crept towards Amun-Ra"s position keeping low in the rubble. The spectators could see them, but it was doubtful Amun-Ra could without breaking cover and becoming a target for the long-range railguns.
After five minutes of creeping slowly towards Amun-Ra, the two cadets stood suddenly and began to fire their launchers down onto the Amun-Ra position.
Amun-Ra had a decision to make, retreat or get into range and return fire. Thoth were only sixty metres away, but it would put them into range of the railguns held by Vannier and Picard. Both who were proven crack shots at longer range.
Amun-Ra charged.
"This won"t last much longer," Stanley offered his a.s.sessment.
Amun-Ra were trying to take down the two cadets and then retreat back to cover. Axelzero and Mace retreated back towards the tower, jumping backwards, using jumpjets while continuing to launch grenades.
"Why aren"t they using the railguns?" Cillian asked Stanley.
"The one handers?" Stanley clarified because the long-range railguns were beginning to damage Amun-Ra. When Cillian nodded, he answered, "they already had launchers equipped, they would lose valuable seconds by swapping. And the frag grenades create a chaotic environment. They will slow the charge."
Two of Thoth cadets flew down off the tower to meet the incoming Amun-Ra a.s.sault, and once they closed to one hundred metres, they began to fire. All six Thoth cadets were firing upon Amun-Ra who had not closed to blaster range, which had a maximum effective range of fifty metres.
After three Amun-Ra cadets went down the squad leader must have called for a retreat. The remaining four split off in two directions.
Thoth followed the squad leaders group, all four chased the two Amun-Ra cadets and focused them down before they could hide amongst the rubble.
There were only two Amun-Ra cadets left. They had run east and were using a collapsed building for cover. The two cadets positioned themselves, so Thoth had to come into range of their blasters in order to engage with their railguns.
The four Thoth cadets closed down the distance, leaving the Vannier and Picard on top of the tower.
"Do you think with two blasters they can take one down?" Cillian asked Stanley. Purely for conversation, the match was over.
"Why put themselves in that position? They know where they are and they have launchers, grapplers and mobility advantage." Stanley replied.
His a.s.sessment was correct, Thoth used the pair on the tower as overwatch covering the east, while the remainder spread around the Amun-Ra cadets, staying out of range of their blasters and picked them off with launchers and railguns.
Thoth squad zero (0) def Amun-Ra zero
The M1 final was over.
"Again they surprise us, it"s very rare that medical can"t heal an injured cadet in five minutes. He didn"t break his back nor was he caught in an explosion," Cillian noted.
"If not injury then what?" Stanley questioned.
"Does it have something to do with the forfeit?" Cillian returned with another question.
"Wait," Stanley said suddenly. "Gaumont was the one incapacitated in the match against Shu. The one they dragged out."
Cillian raised an eyebrow.
"Don"t you see? They are pretending that these matches are real. They did not take him, because they are behaving as if he was critically injured!" Stanley exclaimed.
"Surely you jest," Cillian laughed.
Stanley shrugged, "I could be wrong. You come up with a better explanation, or better yet, ask them."