Chapter 151

The Daedalus Academy

Y: 2143 – 1 week until Southern Europe regional inter-academy first round.

Daedalus Financial Position: <5.23M> bitcreds 

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“You built this craft just for this mission?” Picard asked.

Daedo answered without breaking focus from his tactical display. “No.”

Picard looked confused. The sleek vessel was surely new.

Vannier explained, “Marais built it from our concept designs. And it’s not just for this mission - it belongs to our Atlantic Ocean base.”

“We will build more ocean floor bases and connect them with vacuum mag tubes,” Daedo said. “It’s the most efficient way to move troops and supplies. We’re working out the kinks with Base 02.”

“What about regulations?” Axel-Zero asked. There was a myriad of national, regional and international bodies who would require development applications and processes to navigate.

“Don’t have time,” Vannier smiled apologetically and shrugged.

“We will act and ask for forgiveness later,” Daedo added.

Picard scoffed lightly, “Like you’d ask for forgiveness.” 

Daedo thought about her words and tried to recall the last time he asked for forgiveness for an action he took for Daedalus and their goals. “Point taken,” he replied.

They sped through the ocean, at least 500m below surface to ensure there was no chance of detection from the sky and in stealth mode if they detected another vessel in proximity. Even at the high speeds Amphibian could achieve it still took the twenty six hours to arrive at their destination.

“We will break surface in 510 seconds,” Daedo announced changing the demeanour of the room. In attendance were Daedo’s squad of eight, Vannier and Picard. Axel-Zero was the only civilian in attendance, and although that was her legal status, she acted like she belonged to the Daedalus Military classification.

Mace and her squad were on a separate support mission, the clandestine squad were adding to the distraction that Barran’s squad had initiated. 

The amphibious craft broke the water’s surface and took to the air. All eyes were on scanners looking for any reaction to their presence.

“The Panama site,” Axel-Zero breathed the words. Their craft was not in the air for long before it halted, and its large bay doors opened.

“Disembark,” Daedo ordered and the ten exo soldiers dropped through the opening in an orderly fashion, each equipped with their assigned weapons and tools.

Daedo looked up at the graphene nanotube seemingly suspended in mid-air. It was the first time Daedo had seen a space elevator up close, albeit one under construction. The balloons were so high they were invisible to the naked eye and even his ocular enhancement failed to show a blurry shape at 60km distance.

His team had practiced this mission hundreds of times and orders weren’t necessary. While Morton, Kozlov and Picard took out the fabricators he and Myrmidon watched the scanners.

“I’m still amazed at the lack of security here,” Vannier said after she disabled another bot. Her group consisted of the remainder of cadets and they were easily disabling the on-site robotic security.

“Open,” Rahman called after cutting through into the construction base’s main building. Vannier, Rahman and Fleming moved inside.

A massive blast was felt from the strip which Jia had blown precisely on cue. 

“Countdown is 200,” Daedo announced reminding the team they were on a tight schedule. They were able to achieve a lightning raid, but they did not have the capacity to fight Huawei head on, nor did he want to.

“Set,” Vannier called through the comms after two minutes inside the main building.

“Set,” came the calls from Rahman and Fleming moments later.

Within seconds the entire team had completed their tasks and began to exfiltrate the base. They were ahead of schedule but only by seventeen seconds.

Daedo and Myrmidon kept their focus on scanners from the craft and the incoming intel from Mace.

He watched as Huawei mobilised, but they were far too late. They were not prepared for an attack on their elevator.

Mace: they activated the weapons platform. Get out of there.

Daedo hung in his harness from the ceiling of the Amphibian. He was wearing the latest version of the exo, which was a hybrid of nanotechnology with Kang’s composite armour and structure. It was powered by a conventional reactor. Anti-matter was too volatile for an exo. If its containment blew you would be vaporised in the resultant explosion. As the last of his team strapped in the craft lifted.

Daedo: we are already leaving.

They were eighteen seconds ahead of schedule. It was unusual in the fact that everything had gone according to plan. Daedo was disappointed in Huawei. 

His disappointment only lasted a moment as he watched the sky light up in horror. He called to Vannier, “Get us out of here!”

Daedo checked the water depths, the time for the cabin to pressurise, the maximum acceleration of Amphibian and the probably force of nuclear strike on the base. Lacking precise information, he used 100MT as the input. Immediately his mind went to the surrounding towns. They were in Panama and although Huawei owned this site, and it was not a small base, there was no chance that the nearby towns would escape unscathed. Some would be devastated.

He paused their own detonation.

Daedo: can you get me information on what is headed our way?

Mace: we’re trying, but I think its isolated from the main security system. The weapons platform we reconnoitred has no data other than location.

Daedo: its nuclear. We are detecting multiple drones with no shielding. They are leaking radiation like a sieve.

“Fly maximum acceleration for 35km then dive,” he ordered Vannier as Myrmidon finished scenario calculations.

“We can’t dive at maximum flight speed,” Vannier replied.

“We have to,” Daedo replied. He dropped from his harness and moved to assist Vannier. She looked at him in concern.

“What’s coming?” She asked and refocused on her controls.

“I’ll take care of shields and the reactive armour. Just focus on speed and maximising distance from the blast zone.” He replied while changing the settings to give Amphibians propulsion systems all the power it could handle and then more.

“We’re in the red,” Vannier observed. “And you haven’t answered my question.”

“She can handle it. Give it everything,” Daedo said and the craft skimmed the water’s surface sending spray in all directions. “I’m sure its nuclear,” Daedo said calmly.

Vannier was anything but calm after the revelation. Nuclear weapons had been banned for almost a century and for Huawei to use them in a situation like this was unthinkable.

As they approached the 35km point Daedo adjusted the shields and adaptive armour. The hull would need all its strength to survive the dive and the shockwaves which would follow them. The water itself would absorb thermal radiation much more effectively than air, however the shockwaves would dissipate far less underwater.

The craft made an unnerving sound as its nose penetrated the water’s surface at high speed.

“Angle of incidence 33,” Daedo ordered and Vannier adjusted their heading pointing their nose downwards. Every second they sunk deeper into the water and decelerated until they reached their top speed for the upper ocean.

Daedo diverted energy to the shields until they reached maximum. He focused on the calculations and conclusion Myrmidon was displaying on his HUD. 

“Seventy-two,” he said and again Vannier adjusted their heading.

The Amphibian was built to the highest military standards that Marais had. It had innovations not only from Daedalus, but the entire IPO registry was scoured for useful technologies. It had four elongated windows to the outside world. They were only 400mm high, but they covered almost the entire length of the craft. It was through these windows that a blinding burst of light appeared.

“Hold on,” Daedo said. The cadets were ensconced in their harnesses while he and Vannier were in strapped into bucket seats. While the burst of light reached them with little fanfare, the sound and shockwave travelled in unison.

It hit the craft which began to spin end over end. It was as if the water itself became lighter as they were flung at impossible speeds and directions. Daedo did his best to adapt the armour and pour energy into the shields as they depleted and struggled to replenish.

Vannier had lost total control and a look of fear overcame her as the vessel cracked.

“Surface,” was all Daedo could ask her before the Amphibian broke into two. Water poured in both sections, but suddenly stopped in the cabin where the remainder of the squad resided. Daedo and Vannier were engulfed in water and sinking but he still worked with virtual controls utilising Myrmidon and the ships systems. Vannier waited patiently for him as the seconds felt like eons.

Daedo: the shield has been reinstated around the cabin section. Float to the surface and make your way home. Picard, you are in charge until we join you.

Vannier looked at Daedo. They were engulfed in water 500m below the surface. If it wasn’t for their exos they would be dead already. Daedo turned and manually pulled two leavers either side of the cockpit's rear. Constructofoam poured out. He manipulated his own shield to control the flow - slowly and precisely he sealed the breach. He pulled a tube from the floor and more constructofoam flowed out its nozzle. Using his ocular implant, he searched for small breaks and cracks and filled them. Seeing what he was attempting Vannier scanned the light spectrum and then thermal pointing out weaknesses where she could find them.

“We need to connect our exos reactor to the bridge,” he said over comms. Vannier assisted by connecting his as he did hers. She didn’t ask how long they had she merely followed his lead.

Their exos were built for space. Which meant they would supply them air, keep them cool or war and were sealed. There was one major difference between space and hundreds of meters deep in the ocean and that was pressure. One had very little and the other had a lot.

Daedo visibly sighed as the Amphibian began to pump water out of the cockpit. “I’m glad this vessel was made for deep sea.”

Vannier raised an eyebrow.

“Our calculations showed an escape by air was impossible, we would have been vaporised,” he said with unintentional dramatic effect.

As they slowly began to float to the surface Vannier was lost deep in thought.

Daedo checked both their exos for damage and to ensure systems were operational. They would need full radiation protection and could not afford any breaches.

“The bastards,” Vannier said after a few minutes silence.

It was Daedo’s turn to raise an eyebrow.

“They weighed the repercussions of using nuclear weapons against your removal. They must have known you were there,” she stated.

“We were visible to their satellites once we were on the ground,” he said.

She nodded solemnly. “And from what you said, they calculated there was no escape from the payload.” She breathed angrily, “The fact they had such a payload at ready disposal! They have been planning this!”

He nodded, “And they nuked their own elevator. Their next move will be to blame us.”

“Fwah,” she said. It wasn’t a word, but its meaning was clear. Vannier was incensed. “I want to kill them,” her angry increased until she suddenly became forlorn. “But we cannot afford a war.” 

“No one can,” Daedo replied.

“Did this factor into your calculations?”

He shook his head sadly.

She wasn’t sure if he was sad at the outcome or sad that he had miscalculated. They sat in silence as the makeshift vessel continued to float upwards. The difference in pressure between the cockpit and outside, ensured they would.

“What now?” She asked and the question wasn’t in regard to their immediate predicament.

“Our goal remains the same,” Daedo was not deterred easily.

Vannier breathed consciously and slowly, calming herself and slowing her heart rate. She then asked, “How? The repercussions of their actions, and their next move will be far reaching. I can’t imagine the damage that was done to Panama.”

“Costa Rica will also be severely impacted. The death toll will me in the millions,” Daedo said sadly.

“We cannot allow them to blame us for this,” Vannier replied. She ignored the death toll, to contemplate it would stop her from functioning altogether.

It was at this time their makeshift craft bobbed to the surface. It was midday but it was dark.

Picard had kept comm silence, but she had kept track of their progress which was evident as her and the seven others swam towards them.

Daedo considered pulling the two main parts of Amphibian back together, it could be accomplished with the tools they had. Although it was possible they would  become visible while attempting it.

As they gathered around the bobbing cockpit he spoke, “Maintain comm silence. Activate stealth. We’ll swim south west to shore at 30m depth.” He didn’t need to order them to close their exos external air intakes, it was implicit with the depth and rampant radiation.

The combined power of the nukes that scattered across the base and surrounds at Panama was in the magnitude of 100MT. It was two times more powerful that the most destructive nuke dropped in the mid twentieth century, the Tsar Bomba.

The ten young soldiers looked up into the sky before diving into the water. Huawei could not see them. They could not see anything.