《The Costa Brava Scenario  ( formerly: Space Opera )》


 PROLOGUE

    A star ship was landing. The ship¡¯s thrusters spewed jets of fire as it descended. As the ship got closer to the ground, the amount of thrust, and fire jet, slowly eased. There was no landing pad, the ship was landing in a field. Around the landing ship smoke and steam bellowed. Organic grasses either burned or flashed to steam. Any moisture in the ground evaporated as the thrusters baked the ground. The engines cut out when the ship touched down. The smoke and steam dissipated slightly. Enough that a landing ramp descended.


    A hatch cycled open and S¡¯Li walked down the ramp. He was a Gray, it wasn¡¯t juts a color but a race. S¡¯Li, a level 15 explorer, had his race¡¯s customary gray skin, an oversized oval head and very big eyes. His body was thin and he had spindly arms and fingers. ¡°Planet Hamster,¡± he said. ¡°What a stupid name for a planet.¡±


    Forty sectors to the Galactic North, on Planet DL5, a ship was getting ready to launch. It was going to launch in a hurry. It was going to launch out of a war zone. The ship¡¯s captain kept his thrusters burning. It was burning fuel, but this contract was a disaster and any second he would pour on the throttle and get the hell out of Dodge.


    Right now, the landing ramp was down and Reptilian troopers of the Bagnosh Mercenary Regiment were running up the ramp in a hurry. The regiment¡¯s rear guard was firing slug throwers at feathered humanoids who were chasing them. Laser shots flashed towards the ship. The handheld lasers couldn¡¯t hurt the ship, but those lasers could kill the individual Reptilian soldiers. The lasers were killing Reptilians. The Regiment had lost this war. Contract or no, it was time to go.


    A large, a seriously large, laser bolt hit the ship. The pilot wasn¡¯t ready to die on this stupid rock. No respawn for me ¨C if I die, I lose my ship. He punched the thrusters. Even though the landing ramp was down and the regiment wasn¡¯t all on board yet, it was time to go.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Reptilians yelled as the ship started to ascend. The landing ramp was slowly coming up. One Reptilian fell off the ramp, another clung for life as his comrades tried to pull him up. On the ground, the thunderous firey blast from the full throttle thrusters cooked both Reptilians and humanoids.


    On Star Station 67Tex, traders were negotiating the price of foodstuffs and weapons and other goods. The price for accelerator rifles was relatively low for the basic models. Orion Spiced Shrimp were outrageously expensive. The AI NPC running the trading booth was giving Captain Sybla a hard time.


    Sybla hoped her trading skill would lower the price for the shrimp she wanted to buy and raise the price for the rifles she wanted to sell. She need to make a profit on this run. Earn enough credits and Sybla could convert some credits to real-world money and help her husband pay the rent this month. She just needed to convince the Artificial Intelligence that was driving the merchant to budge a couple of credits on the prices. Blood from a computerized stone.


    With a million or more players logged in world wide, the Space Opera Universe was a busy place.


    In one corner of the world, one building, the Space Opera Universe was totally shut off. This one building was the site of Space Opera VR Systems Challenge. Competing graduate students would show off the Virtual Reality hardware they had created specifically for the Space Opera Universe.


    With a million or more players logged in world wide, soon the entire Space Opera Universe would be a busier place.

 1. THE HEARTBEAT & 2. LUNCH WITH DAD

    <h1 class="western">THE HEARTBEAT</h1>


    Space Opera VR Systems Challenge


    e Space Opera VR Systems Challenge


    notHow could anybody who had poured thousands of hours of themselves into the VR project not have a panic attack?


    This is supposed to be my year. My year to win. Or at least finish in the top 10.Space Opera VR Systems Challenge


    bro culture,


    Rogue Team, were her players. They would play the game using the VR equipment that her team developed. Those four players would show off what the equipment would do. But, they needed to survive in the game long enough to show off the amazing VR gaming client system equipment. Flannigan was the squad leader. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°


    ¡°


    <h1 class="western">LUNCH WITH DAD</h1>


    </a>


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°friendfriend


    I wonder how much this is going to cost me? What didn¡¯t her mom buy her? She regularly bought anything and everything Sarah wanted. For the millionth time he cursed her rich boy friend and the stupid undeserved fame she found. At least he got a good chunk of money to stay quiet and get lost.


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°And this isn¡¯t gong to cost me anything after all.


    ¡°

 * ATG 1. SYBLA

    <h1 class="western">ACROSS THE GALAXY: SYBLA</h1>


    The corridor was a soft blue. There was art hanging on the walls. There could have been naked men and crucified ¡®ware cats and Captain Sybla wouldn¡¯t have noticed as she stormed down the corridor on Star Station 67Tex.


    She ignored all of the refinements to make the Star Station corridors relaxing and bring culture to the residents. The station designer knew transients, like Sybla, may not care, but the residents would. Tranisents would be here for days. The children would be here for life.


    Sybla didn¡¯t want to be here. She wanted to be home. Not home as in planet Paten V. She wanted to be home in Sussex, England. She wanted to be with her husband and daughter. He was out looking for work and her daughter was at school. Sybla was here, Star Station 67Tex.


    Sybla didn¡¯t know that the guy who designed this station was from Jakarta and loved the idea of Texas. The designer thought the wide open spaces and variable climages of the great state of Texas in the USA was amazing. He made a series of stations and each one had some reference to Texas in it. Even if Sybla knew all this, she wouldn¡¯t care right now. Probably not ever. Right now she cared about money.


    Stupid game, she thought. Sybla had started playing in school, year 12 to be exact. Then it was fun, and she was fairly good at it. Her explorer was first rate and growing in levels. Then two things happened in her life. She got pregnant and arrogant.


    Arrogance got her explorer killed. She pushed her luck exploring a planet that was beyond her level. She should have at least taken a partner, a full team would have been better. Instead she went on alone. She should have avoided the swamp. She should have run away after emptying a full magazine from her rifle into whatever that giant lizard was.


    And after being a snack for some giant lizard, she should have respawned her character. Instead she threw a ¡°hormonal hissy fit¡±, as her then boyfriend called them. She deleted her account and her explorer disappeared into the electronic abyss.


    Years later, after they married, her husband lost his job. That was when she had her brainstorm. People would pay real money, pounds, for Space Opera credits, the in-game money. She knew how to play. She had been good. This time instead of being an explorer, why not go where the money is? Captain Sybla, merchant trader extraordinaire was born.


    Things were not going according to plan. Sybla got a slight bump from the last merchant she dealt with. Unfortunately, the price she got for ten crates of accelerator rifles barely covered her costs. And everything she made was being plunged into Orion Spiced Shrimp. Nobody prepared Orion Spiced Shrimp like the cooks on 67Tex. A delicacy to turn the most jaded gourmet¡¯s head. At least that was her pitch.


    The problem? It was a lie. The shrimp were OK. The best part about them was they would be fresh when she loaded them in the morning.


    The next problem was the cost. The AI merchant wouldn¡¯t budge on his price. She needed to hit it big with these shrimp. Maybe if she made the jump to Star Station Huston in one torturous, dangerous jump, she could unload them to a certain private head chef who once had mentioned being interested in a rare delicacy like Orion Spiced Shrimp. His clients wouldn¡¯t know if they were as good as they could be.


    Captian Sybla ended up where all spacers end up- a Cantina. As a rule, Sybla preferred going to local bars. She liked meeting new people. And you never knew who might have a quest to offer up. Quests from private citizen AIs could be mind numbing- like a little old lady asking ¡°can you deliver a letter for me?¡± But these private citizen quests could also be insane and insanely profitable- ¡°did I mention the letter is to the King of Techni? Yes I know the planet is blockaded, but I would so like my nephew to get this letter and I can¡¯t send it through the network. There is a blockade you know.¡± That had been quite the adventure. And hella profitable


    On 67Tex, she stuck to space bars. Every station was different. This station didn¡¯t like transients going to bars for the locals. When she was in the mood, she could charm them. In this mood she was likely to shoot one of them. Weapons weren¡¯t allowed on the station, but she¡¯d find a way to shoot the first jerk who sneered at her.


    Nobody in the Cantina Transient took much notice of her. There weren¡¯t many Patens in this part of the galaxy. Her blue tinged skin, cord thick hair and thick neck made her stand out from other humans, but compared to the lizard people over there or the big hair guys playing some stupid card game, she was nothing to write home about. In her miserable mood, she had to be careful with her words. Actually calling the lizard-people ¡°lizards¡± to their scaly faces was an invitation to fight. She called it a description, they called it a slur.


    The barkeep was human. Players and AIs tended to be human. Humans had very neutral starting stats, a few bonuses but very few negatives. ¡°Alien¡± races, from humanoid, to lizards to bugs and a whole lot in between, could have wildly different stat bonuses and penalties when starting out. Patens were close to humans, but the thick neck made them difficult to strangle. But they also were known as shrewd traders. Charisma got a boost and she got trading and appraisal and luck as starting skills. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Look like you need a drink,¡± the barkeep said cheerily.


    Just what I frackin¡¯ need, a cheery barkeep. She did everything she could not to say ¡°yes I need a drink, that¡¯s why I¡¯m in this rat hole of a bar.¡± The bar wasn¡¯t that bad. It was clean. This part was well lit. The edges drifted off into shadows- perfect for shady business.


    She didn¡¯t look around. Her first scan of the room was enough. She stayed slightly hunched over her drink, lost in her thoughts. Unhappy thoughts. Unhappy thoughts that were interrupted by a hgh pitched voice. An annoying high pitched voice.


    ¡°You are a ssspacer, yesssss?¡±


    She slowly turned to face the being. Her scowl was deep. Why can¡¯t they just leave me alone? ¡°If you are trying to get into my pants, I swear I will castrate you.¡±


    It was a Syke. Like the rest of his kind, he was a gaunt creature. IN his four fingers, he held a card up for the barkeep to take. Four fingers on each hand ws one of the traits of the Sykes. That and being thin, like they were starvation victims.


    It answered, ¡°Your pantssss are nissse, but no interest to me.¡±


    ¡°OK,¡± she answered. ¡°What do you want?¡±


    The Syke smiled. ¡°Don¡¯t like ssssmall talk. Thank you.¡± Sykes were known to be blunt, or sneaky. It was a Jekyll and Hyde kind of race. Half were sneaky, the other half blunt. There was no middle ground. ¡°I need somebody to take a shipment.¡±


    A quest? Here? She gave a shrug. ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Yesss.¡± The bartender handed the Syke his drink. A green frothy kind of thing.


    Is this a chance for extra money? ¡°what kind of shipment?¡± She looked away from the Syke. Slowly she lifted her glass. She let the liquor touch her lips, but didn¡¯t sip any. It was a way to keep a little disinterested and save some money on drinks.


    ¡°Just package. Ssssyke to Ssssyke.¡±


    Like that explains everything. ¡°What¡¯s in the package?¡±


    ¡°Nothing you worry not.¡± It nodded firmly.


    ¡°Where does it have to go?¡±


    ¡°Galvessston IV¡±


    Her mind raced. Galvaston is three jumps further than Star Station Houston. . The Texas circuit is getting old. . Maybe its time for a new sector? At least a new subsector? ¡°I jump to Star Station Houston in a few hours.¡±


    ¡°How ssssoon can you go?¡±


    She glanced at her watch. ¡°The cargo won¡¯ t be ready for another two hours.¡±


    ¡°I pay you extra to skip Houston?¡±


    She looked him in the eye. She didn¡¯t know how to read a Syke. Something in her, a not-quite voice, a feeling, said ¡°trust him.¡± A side effect of appraisal skill? Did it work on people? A manifestation of luck? Did it matter?


    ¡°What does the job pay?¡±


    ¡°Twenty five thoussssand.¡±


    ¡°Standard credits?¡± She had been burned once before. She needed to ask. The Syke smiled and nodded. She nodded. 12 thousand for the shrimp, three jumps, no, 5 jumps. 2 to Houston and 3 to Galveston. Maybe going directly to Galveston could be 4 jumps? 3 jumps if she was feeling really brave. 10 thousand a jump? ¡°40 thousand,¡± she said flatly.


    The syke didn¡¯t blink. ¡°Deal.¡±


    ¡°Plus,¡± Sybla answered quickly, ¡°15 thousand for abandoning Houston.¡± Internally she cursed herself. Should have asked for more. He would have paid more. Darkness take my stupid mind.


    ¡°Eight thoussssand standard credits foe Houssston.¡±


    ¡°10,¡± she countered.


    The Syke held out a hand. They shook. Some customs were universal.


    Three hours later, Sybla was standing outside the main hatch of her ship. Crates of Orion Spiced Shrimp had been loaded and she was ready to go. All that she needed was her package. And there was the Syke. She didn¡¯t think much about the small Syke holding his hand. It wasn¡¯t unheard of for people to randomly decide it was "bring your daughter to work day".


    The syke handed two cards to Sybla. She put the credit card into her pocket reader. Hopefully he''s not insulted. The card had an amount on the digital display. When you take a 15 thousand credit card, you double checked it. The pocket reader displayed 15 thousand.


    The other card was an address.


    ¡°Balance on delivery,¡± the Syke said.


    All I need now is the package.¡±


    The Syke kissed the girl on the head. ¡°Be brave Meri, be brave.¡±


    Oh no. ¡°Uh, what is the package?¡±


    ¡°Did I not explain? Meri is the package.¡±


    ¡°Called me a package?¡± The girl said in her clipped high-pitched voice.


    ¡°I must go,¡± the Syke said. He kissed Meri again and turned.


    Sybla looked at him. Then down to Meri. She sighed. 50 thousand for getting the girl to Galveston. This should be easy.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go kid.¡± She guided Meri aboard the ship.

 3. HURRICANE ANGIE

    Sarah was looking at her phone as she robotically unlocked her door and walked into her room. A second later she was on the ground. She landed on her butt and her phone had gone flying as she fell. Sarah looked up. Angie was standing there apologizing over and over.


    ¡°Are you OK?¡± Sarah asked.


    ¡°No.¡± Angie gushed frantic apologies as she helped Sarah get up off the floor. Once Sarah was on her feet, Angie launched into an explanation of the crisis.


    ¡°They quit?¡± Sarah asked. It had taken a few minutes to get the story out of Angie. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it.¡±


    ¡°Believe it!¡± Angie picked up a cup and slammed it down on the desk. ¡°Flanni said it wasn¡¯t because I¡¯m a chick. Because I¡¯m a chick? What the hell does that mean?¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± Sarah said, ¡°I mean you hardly realize you have boobs.¡± Angie looked down at her chest. She knew she had boobs. They¡¯re not small and they get in the way sometimes. Thank goodness they weren¡¯t the melons her mother carried around, even if mom¡­.. I don¡¯t have time for this.


    She looked up and saw Sarah laughing. Angie started to laugh too. Her best friend could always get her laughing. That¡¯s why she was her best friend.


    Both of them remembered the bra discussion two days ago. They drank beer and talked about what fit, what didn¡¯t. What boys like. What men like. And how the hell did Angie not have a single sexy bra. Not a bralette, not a pushup, yeah one or two had a touch of lace, but not one bra you could really call sexy. Well, there is one, Angie thought to herself, but I¡¯m not telling.


    Angie and Sarah drank through the few beers they had kept in the dorm room fridge and Sarah couldn¡¯t take it any longer. She, dragged Angie out for a girl¡¯s day. It was their way of celebrating the ¡°programmed time out¡± before the game. Some shopping, which included a LBD, a new lingerie set, dancing and more drinks. It was relaxing.


    Now, as Sarah hugged her, Angie cursed herself that she had gone out instead of finding a backup team. If I didn¡¯t go out drinking, Flannie wouldn¡¯t have quit. No that¡¯s not true. Maybe it is. I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t know!


    When Sarah¡¯s phone vibrated again, she didn¡¯t ignore it. One message was from dad, asking if everything was OK. She answered [Yes, be there in a minute.] The next message was from Joey, team leader for team Sssshark, the team she was on. Joey asked if she wanted a ride to the devil center. [Got one. See you soon.] she responded. The rest of the messages were system notices. T-minus 90 minutes until doors. T-minus 3h30m until game.


    Angie was pacing again. Nerves and worries crashed back like a tidal wave. ¡°Sara, have you, would you consider¡­¡±


    Sara cut her off right there. ¡°I can¡¯t leave my team just before we start.¡± maybe if she had asked when the semester started, that would have been different. Now? No.


    ¡°I would never ask you to do that,¡± Angie lied. They both knew it was a lie and like friends do, they both pretended the lie was true.


    The door to the room opened and in bounced Heather. She was pulling Mike behind her.


    ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± Heather announced. She was dragging Mike along behind her. Sara looked at them.


    Heather, like Sarah, wasn¡¯t an engineer. This dorm had a mix of engineers and liberal arts students- the dorm was near both the engineering and the liberal arts buildings. Heather was a friend. She was also a flibbertyjibbt. A little scatter brained and a little sarcastic and a thousand other things, including being one of Angie¡¯s saviors right now.


    Mike was smarter than most people, he would be happy to tell you that himself. For whatever reason he wasn¡¯t part of a team. He should have had his own team, or been a headliner dev or even a top player on one of the teams. Instead, Mike was being dragged along by Heather.


    ¡°Are you the new grunt squad?¡± Sarah tried to hide her horror as she turned to Angie. ¡°This is your playing squad?¡±


    I know! She wanted to yell at Sarah. I know this is a disaster. I know that the, uh, know-it-all and Heather were a disaster as a grunt squad. There¡¯s nothing I can do about it. A deep breath later, Angie answered ¡°We¡¯re still short a person.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°I love you Heather, but you are going to be a grunt?¡±


    ¡°A girl¡¯s gotta do what a girl¡¯s gotta do.¡± Heather was cheerful and smart at the moment. That could change when her inner demon broke free. Until then she was the pretty girl next door.


    In order to successfully demonstrate what their equipment could do, each team had to dedicate four players to actually play the Space Opera game using all of the fancy new equipment that the engineers cooked up. The playing team had to survive long enough to show off the equipment.


    Every team that lost the competition would later claim that their gear was the greatest ever, it was the human grunts who got killed out early. If the grunt players had just lasted longer, everybody would have seen how good the equipment was.


    ¡°You get spooked by...¡± Sarah didn¡¯t finish the sentence. ¡°Mike what are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Uh, It¡¯s an emergency and I don¡¯t have anything better to do.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± Sarah and Mike never got along. He was a chauvinist know-it-all. He wasn¡¯t a male chauvinist pig with something against girls. He was an equal opportunity chauvinist. If you weren¡¯t Mike, you weren¡¯t that smart or important.


    Angie butted in. ¡°I¡¯ll meet you over there when the doors open. Room b23. Do you need a ride?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re going to ride my scooter over.¡± Mike announced happily. He couldn¡¯t remember the last time a girl had been on the scooter with him. Heather didn¡¯t look overjoyed, but if that was the price of getting Mike to help her friend, Heather was willing to pay it.


    ¡°OK, well, see you there.¡± Sarah was talking to Mike, but Heather answered.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± Heather grabbed Mike¡¯s hand. ¡°Somebody has a reception to get ready for.¡± With a smile for Angie, Heather led Mike out of the room.


    Angie¡¯s expression changed to horror. ¡°The reception!¡±


    ¡°I forgot about it,¡± Sarah said.


    ¡°Me too.¡± Angie was not happy. ¡°I can¡¯t skip it. All of the judges will be there.¡± She stood there looking miserable.


    ¡°Do you think it matters?¡±


    ¡°Yes. No. I don¡¯t know. Yes it does. All of the VIPs will be there, the people who do hiring.¡±


    ¡°The let¡¯s get you ready. I happen to know somebody has a brand new Little Black Dress¡± Sarah was chipper.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have time for getting dressed up.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a chick. Be a chick. Remind them that you¡¯re not just brains.¡±


    ¡°I think feminism just got set back 50 years.¡±


    ¡°Win and you advance feminism 100 years.¡± Sarah went to the closet. ¡°Let¡¯s get you ready.¡±


    Instead of getting onto his scooter, Mike had been press-ganged into carrying Angie¡¯s bags, briefcase and boxes down to the car. While he was busy, Heather opened the door to Sarah and Angie¡¯s room and slipped in. When she saw Angie and she squealed in delight. ¡°You. Look. AAAAAAA- MAZING!!!!¡±


    Angie stood there in her little black dress. Sarah had done something to her hair. My makeup isn¡¯t getting any better and I¡¯m out of time. She looked at the time on her phone. T-Minus 70 minutes until the doors open. T-minus 10 minutes until the reception starts.


    ¡°You go wow ¡®em, hotstuff. Mike and I will see you in an hour.¡± Heather slipped back out.


    ¡°You think I¡¯m crazy. ¡°


    Sarah put her bag back down. ¡°No, I think you¡¯re desperate.¡±


    Angie sat down heavily on her bed. ¡°I¡¯m desperate. And I need two more people.¡±


    ¡°You could play. You know there are bonuses if you play.¡±


    ¡°The tech team doesn¡¯t have enough experience. And you know, maybe if Javi hadn¡¯t played last year¡­¡± It was an old argument. Javi was the team president last year and he had played. Yes he got bonuses- if the team president plays they get bonuses that could help the squad that is playing. Last year, after the competition, Should Javi have played was a huge argument. ¡°If we had a real player out there, we might have won.¡±


    Sarah came over and sat down beside her roommate. ¡°There are always people at the Devil Center hoping to get in a game.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m hoping lightning strikes.¡±


    Sarah¡¯s phone beeped again. She looked down at the message and then back to Angie. ¡°It¡¯s now or never.¡±


    ¡°Now or never.¡±

 4. DEV CENTER BANQUET

    <h1 class="western">DEV CENTER BANQUET</h1>


    Jessalyn Hesh smiled at the man she was interviewing. Jessalyn was perfectly made up. Her clothes, hair, makeup, everything was deliberately chosen and applied. She was beautiful, but hard. People told her that she could break rocks with that beautiful, hard, face. She chose to take it as a compliment. It wasn¡¯t meant that way.


    ¡°The Space Opera VR Systems Challenge is as simple as it is impossible- build the perfect immersive VR system.¡± Sam Kline was in his 20s. He was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a sports coat. Programmer chic. Sam was the lead developer for Space Opera, LLC. Now he was the target of this attractive college journalist. ¡°Then the VR systems gets a real time full fire testing as we dump a 4 person level 1 fire team into a STAR MARINES scenario.¡±


    ¡°Space Opera universe is huge, there are a million different ways to play, an amazing number of classes, many different races, there are soooo many possible choices.¡± Jessalyn¡¯s beautiful face smiled a beautiful smile at him. ¡°What made you choose a military scenario for the Space Opera VR Challenge?¡± Kline was nodding as she asked the question. It was right out of the marketing materials.


    ¡°Well, Jessalyn, you¡¯re right. Space Opera is the biggest online multiplayer SciFi game in the universe,¡± he smiled. ¡°And our VR integration and immersion is the best in the entire gaming multiverse. So we need to challenge potential developers and engineers. This year we chose Star Marines scenario because combat stresses the system.¡±


    Across the room Kline¡¯s boss, Henry Andle, was dipping his shrimp into cocktail sauce before sucking them down.


    ¡°You know,¡± an elegant older lady said to him, ¡°many alumni prefer to just give money.¡±


    Andle smiled and leaned in close to the older lady. ¡°It¡¯s cheaper for me to do this. And I get innovation and fresh ideas from the kids. My manufacturing partners get ideas and proven talent they can hire. And you name a building after me and Kline.¡±


    The older woman, the college president kept the smile on her face. ¡°But money¡­¡± Being chancellor of the university was much closer to being a prostitute than she cared to admit.


    ¡°Cut the fake smile, Dorothy,¡± Andle continued. ¡°You have student journalists and IT networking students and all sorts of people all practicing their crafts. Even if your football coach was caught in bed with a live boy or a dead hooker you couldn¡¯t get this much exposure.¡±


    Dorothy didn¡¯t change her expression. ¡°You could still donate some actual cash.¡±


    ¡°I did. So did Sam. When we were students here. They called it tuition.¡±


    ¡°Just remember that I didn¡¯t expel you and Sam after you hacked into the grade server.¡±


    ¡°IF I recall,¡± he said flatly, ¡°you did punish me.¡±


    ¡°Keep misbehaving and I¡¯ll punish you again.¡± She smiled again. This smile was a different, more genuine and much more feral smile.


    Angie looked around the room again. She had just come in and quickly found a spot to the side. She knew that she was lucky. Three years ago, at the start of her graduate studies, she had joined Team Bloop. In fact she had gone to grad school just to be in this competition. Her parents wanted her to join the workforce after her first degree. Her parents warned her not to not rack up more college debt. The friends who graduated university with her had gone to work, none of them had gone to graduate school. Her best friend back then was making more than 6-figures at a start up. Angie was here.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    When Angie joined Team Bloop, she was the newbie. Angie was their mascot, their padawan. For two years, including summers, they poured knowledge into her head.


    Now the others had graduated, and Angie was the team president. She was the last of the ¡°old crew¡± in engineering and design, the people that mattered. Her medical and nutrition support team had a couple of carry overs from back then, but Meds and Nuts weren¡¯t the main event.


    The heart of the team was engineering and development. New people had joined over the past three years. Smart and steadfast, Janet, Bill and Billy Long Hair were her team leaders. Still, it was Angie¡¯s heart and soul that drove the team.


    ¡°Hi Angie!¡± She didn¡¯t need to turn around to know who that high pitched and thoroughly annoying voice belonged to.


    ¡°Brian Hoff.¡± She slowly turned around. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d have the guts to come see me.¡±


    ¡°Are you still upset about Rogue 6?¡± His voice was annoying. His blue and white plaid shirt was annoying. His existence was annoying.


    ¡°You stole my grunt squad two hours before the competition begins.¡±


    ¡°I had to. My squad, my old squad, was stuck in Singapore. Some typhoon or something was delaying their flight.¡± He smiled. ¡°Sorry.¡± He wasn¡¯t sorry.


    ¡°Hard core, man, hard core!¡± Joey Reeves clapped Hoff on the back. ¡°Stealing her players. That is hard core nasty shit.¡±


    Hoff flinched away from Joey. ¡°Ow.¡±


    And he¡¯ s a wimp too? I hate Hoff. I hate him sooooo much. ¡°Hi Joey,¡± Angie greeted him with a smile.


    Joey was squeezing Hoff¡¯s shoulder in a slightly friendly gesture. ¡°Sarah told me what you did Hoffy.¡±


    Hoff suddenly looked alarmed. ¡°Who knows about this?¡±


    ¡°Everybody knows what a dick move you made, Hoffy.¡± Joey shook Hoff slightly as he spoke.


    Hoff looked stricken, like he had just realized other implications of what he did. He spoke to himself as much as to them. ¡°You know in business there are no rules. They might respect ruthlessness.¡±


    Angie shook her head. ¡°they might have a moral compass too.¡±


    ¡°And there is no way in the universe that morality is on your side,¡± Joey chimed in.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t think...¡±


    Joey ignored him. ¡°What are you going to do Angie?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m scrambling to get a team together. Can I have Sarah?¡±


    ¡°I love you Angie, but no.¡± He smiled.


    ¡°Didn¡¯t think so.¡± Her smile was forced.


    Hoff spoke up. ¡°As the head of a team, if you actually play in the game, you get bonuses.¡±


    Is Hoff trying to be helpful or just be an insensitive jerk?


    Hoff kept speaking ¡°Like Javi last year. Didn¡¯t he get all sots of level ups and cool gear just for being team president?¡±


    He¡¯s being a jerk, Angie concluded. ¡°Not helpful Hoff.¡± The last thing she wanted to think about was last year and the mess Javi made when he played.


    ¡°You look foxy.¡±


    Angie and Joey just stared at Hoff. What the hell? Angie thought. Just when I thought this couldn¡¯t get any weirder. Angie and Joey didn¡¯t say a word. It got uncomfortable until Hoff muttered something like goodbye and walked away.


    ¡°So what are you going to do?¡± Joey asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I really don¡¯t.¡±

 5. THE DEV CENTER: THUS IT BEGINS

    <h1 class="western">The Dev Center</h1>


    It had taken Mike and Heather two trips to get all of Angie¡®s stuff down to the car. It took longer to carry the stuff than it took to drive to the Dev Center.


    The Dev Center parking lot was packed. After a few passes through the lot, they finally found a spot. Left by himself, Mark was carrying two of Angie¡¯s bags. One was a bright pink gym bag, the other was a big heavy black case.


    ¡°Documentation,¡± that was the answer Mark got when he questioned what was in all of the bags.


    He walked with the crowd to the building. It was a big building. The Andle Klien Delphin Development Center. It was named after the founders of Space Opera. Most people just called it the Dev Center for short. Many of the programmers and engineers called it the Devil Center. Inside were computer labs, work shops, material places and maker spaces. Classes were over for the semester and every viable space was converted into a staging area. This was a facilities and IT nightmare. Each team needed its own space to setup and operate from.


    Probably the person who knew the most about what kind of gear each team had prepared was Doug Kaperns, the Building Manager. Kaperns also probably cared the least about what the gear did or the details of it. Many teams wasted their breath and his time by telling Kaperns the details. All Kaperns cared about was how much space did they need and how much electricity wold be used. Network connections were easy. Everybody got the same ultra high speed line. It didn¡¯t matter how much bandwidth you wanted, everybody got the same.


    Team space was a different matter. Classrooms and workshops were converted to team space for the 21 competition teams to setup their widgets and gizmos. Teams that had competed for many years could get a basement room. If you got a basement room you generally got to keep it year round- a huge team buff. Team Bloop was a legacy team and as long as the team existed, they could keep room B23. Right now they just had to get there. They couldn''t do that until the doors officially opened.


    Filling the large plaza in front of the building way was a huge crowd of people. Some where just there for the spectacle and some for the Space Opera festival that would take place on the pavillion. Most people were waiting to get into the Dev center. Kaperns and two security guards manned the front doors. A side door to the building was letting VIPs and judges and university officials and other bigwigs in. All of the competitors and spectators had to go through the main doors- the ones that Kaperns was guarding.


    The door behind him opened and somebody came out. Based on the maintenance uniform, everybody guessed he was a MaintTech. He stopped by Kaprens and said something. Kaperns nodded and the guy went back to the door he came from. The MiantTech held the door open. Several people came out and stood by Kaperns.


    From a back pocket, Kaperns produced a hand mic. ¡°Good afternoon,¡± his deep voice boomed across the crowd. A camera man made sure he got a great shot for anybody watching the liveStream. ¡°On behalf of university facilities and tech services, I declare the building ready for the competition.¡±


    He handed the microphone over to a distinguished looking lady. Dr. Dorthy Coman, the college president. ¡°Are you ready?¡± she asked quietly. There was a shout from the crowd. Louder this time she asked again ¡°Are you ready?¡± The crowd yelled even louder. Finally she yelled, ¡°Are you ready?¡±


    The crowd roared in response. The president knew that a short speech was the best speech right now. ¡°THUS IT BEGINS!!!!¡± As she yelled the familiar words, projections bloomed.


    The projections were black, a deep black. A deep baritone voice narrated. ¡°In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; and the earth was without form and empty, and darkness on the face of the deep.¡±


    There was an explosion. A single point of light exploded into a million billion stars, galaxies, planets and nebulae. The video did a flyby of a planet and then another planet. Buildings rose and fell. Space ships launched. The video followed a ship as it flew out of the solar system.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    The ship grew, morphed, from a simple scout ship to a trader to a war cruiser. It entered other solar systems.


    ¡°One galaxy was known by its inhabitants as the Western River Galaxy. For eons, Civilizations rose and fell. Wars were fought. Technologies discovered and lost. New frontiers were explored.¡±


    ¡°But, in one part of the Western River Galaxy, war threatened. A race of humanoids, the TU¡¯COn, attacked another group of humanoids, The Federation Alliance.¡± A TU¡¯COn warrior stood there with his laser rifle aimed. It was a bulky, scaly humanoid beast with big eyes. It stood over 6 feet. Most of its bulk looked like muscle. Its scales had a hint of red to them. Its eyes were dark. This one wore a battle vest with knives and laser batteries strapped on. It¡¯s laser blasts were red as it fired.


    ¡°One of the many planets in dispute was RX6. This planet was originally settled by Federation Alliance member TerraRica.¡± A beautiful blue and white marble of a planet filled the projections. Slowly the view zoomed down to the planet, to a peaceful village.


    ¡°Then a schism came to RX6. Some of the ¡®Sixers¡¯ chafed under the taxes and duties that TerraRica imposed to recoup the colonization costs. A rebellion began. An appeal to the Federation Alliance brought a regiment of Star Marines to RX6.¡± Fighting flared in the village. Neighbor fired on neighbor. Attack Landers swooped in. Rockets fired from under the wings. Emblazoned on the sides were the numbers 261 with the silhouette of a sparrow. The attack landers touched down and huge doors fell open on the sides of the small ships. Humans wearing the green uniform of the Star Marines bundled out.


    ¡°The schism grew to outright rebellion.¡±


    A Star Marine tank advanced. Marines flanked it. They were advancing on rebels hiding behind a stone wall. The rebels were putting up a fight, but the outcome wasn¡¯t in doubt as soon as the tank fired its main gun.


    ¡°In the midst of this rebellion, the TU¡¯COn came.¡± From the right flank, TU¡¯COns charged. Three of them fired a rocket launcher. The rocket blazed a trail to its target. The rocket hit and the Star Marine tank exploded. In the brightness of the explosion, the view point changed. The planet was rotating on the projection.


    ¡°Since then, the Federation Alliance and the TU¡¯COn have warred back and forth. Planet RX6 has changed hands multiple times. A few short weeks ago, the Federation took back RX6, but the planet is not pacified. Groups of rebels and TU¡¯COns attack the Federation regularly.


    A starship cruised through space near planet RX6. The name Antonio Lopez was stenciled on its side. ¡°In an attempt to take the war to the TU¡¯COn, The Federation is now sending Star Marines into TU¡¯COn territory. Currently the Star Marine Corsair Transport Antonio Lopez is passing RX6. Now is the time for Star Marines to take their place in history. ¡±


    The screens go to black. Then words appear as the narrator intones them


    ¡°It is time for the Space Opera VR Systems Challenge to start.¡±


    The projections go black again. HUGE words appeared as the baritone voice thundered out ¡°THUS IT BEGINS!¡±


    At those words, the projections disappeared. The maintenance men opened all of the doors to the center. Competitors streamed forward.


    <h1 class="western"></a>THE DOORS OPEN</h1>


    Mark didn¡¯t surge with everybody else. There wasn¡¯t much point. The doors were a choke point and no amount of pushing was going to get him through quickly. Instead, he moved slowly and watched the throng of people.


    There were all sorts of people. Men, women, teens and middle aged people like him. He could peg many of them as engineering students or programmers or other kinds of geeks. Maybe that was most of the crowd. He noticed something missing and filed it away for later.


    </a> Mark was slowly walking by himself. He had said goodbye to Sara at the car. She could be anywhere. Angie had disappeared into the crowd now as well. That was fine. Mark knew he had to bring the big black case and the pink backpack down two levels to B23.


    Eventually, the crowd thinned some. From looking around, maybe there was going to be some kind of festival as the competition happened. Lots and lots of people geeking out over the Space Opera VR Systems Challenge.  If it wasn¡¯t for the big signs, he never would have remembered the name. Maybe I¡¯ll get a hat or a shirt. A souvenir for the beach. It¡¯ll piss Renee off that I was here and she wasn¡¯t.


    One shirt for sale had a picture of planet RX6 on the front and on the back the words ¡°Level up with the Space Opera VR Systems Challenge.¡± Mark passed it by.  Maybe there¡¯ll be some other souvenir.

 6. Gotcha and Training

    <h1 class="western">GOTCHA</h1>


    When Mark finally went through the doors labeled B23 he found Angie crying. Many people were busy working with equipment and stuff. They kept stealing glances at Angie. A man and a woman were trying to console Angie.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± his ¡°dad instinct¡± kicked in. This girl had been to his house on breaks. He had taken her and Sarah to the city a few times. It wasn¡¯t like watching his own daughter cry, but close enough.


    Angie looked up. ¡°People are jerks.¡± Mark nodded. Angie continued, ¡°The only people I thought would be OK players want me to pay them A LOT of money.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± He didn¡¯t really know what that meant, but it was probably bad. ¡°Anything I can do to help?¡± Please, please don¡¯t ask for A LOT of money.


    She made a sad chuckle-choke kind of sound. ¡°Have you ever been in the military?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± he answered hesitantly.


    The guy, Mike, answered the unspoken question. ¡°The rules of this competition say that no soldiers or veterans are allowed.¡± Mike read the confusion on Mark¡¯s face and started talking again. ¡°The actual main game Space Opera game is different, but this scenario is special so special rules apply. It is primarily a test of equipment, so...¡± He left the rest of it unspoken.


    ¡°Gotcha,¡± he muttered unhappily. Sort of gotcha anyway.


    ¡°So you¡¯ll do it?¡± What¡¯s her name? Heather? One of Sarah¡¯s friends anyway. She had never been to the house, but he had seen her on social media. Uh-oh. Everybody in the room had frozen and looked at him.


    ¡°Do what exactly?¡±


    Angie jumped back into the conversation. ¡°Mr. Smythe, will you join our team? I need another in-game player.¡±


    ¡°In game? Like playing one of those Star Marines?¡± This was out of left field.


    ¡°Exactly.¡±


    ¡°Uh, Angie could choose one of the team-¡± he swept his arm to encompass everybody standing around watching, ¡°but nobody else has much experience playing so if she can get you, it saves her from losing another experienced technician.¡±


    ¡°I, I don¡¯t know, I¡¯ve never played the game.¡±


    Heather chimed in. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m better than nothing and you can be too.¡±


    Angie was full of hope as she looked up into his face. Mark shrugged his shoulders. ¡°I hate being nothing, so, sure, why not?¡±


    She ran up and hugged him. ¡°Thank you, thank you, thank you.¡± She stepped back and turned to the guy. ¡°Mike, can you get him registered. Billy Long Hair, he¡¯s about the size that Flanni was, use his pod.¡± Angie whirled to face Janet. ¡°Janet, we need to go over the Felding Code.¡± Janet¡¯s eyes flicked to the side. She did it again. When Angie didn¡¯t respond, she add a head twitch. Angie looked and finally noticed her entire team was drifting closer. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Oh, Angie thought, I didn¡¯t prepare anything. Standing up as straight as she could, Angie turned to the assembling team. A clock on the wall showed the time. ¡°We have lots and lots of stuff to get done and it is T-minus one-hundred minutes and counting until...¡± Angie was trying to find the right words, to everybody else it seemed like a dramatic pause, ¡°the winning team takes the field.¡±


    The team cheered. What the hell have I gotten myself into? Mark wondered.


    <h1 class="western">TRAINING</h1>


    The room was your standard Space Marine compartment. The d¨¦cor was gun metal grey accented with a green only seen in the military. Weapons hung in racks on the walls. The main feature of the room was a grizzled old Drill Instructor. His white hair was buzzed short and his unshaven jaw was ridiculously square.


    ¡°This is your standard issue G-78 linear accelerator rifle.¡± He hefted the rifle. It was a futuristic piece of polymer and metal. ¡°This is 30 inches of portable man-made sudden death. It will accelerate a 10 mm projectile down range at a speed that would make your mama wet her pants. It will impact with enough force to punch a hole through a starship bulkhead. I¡¯m not talking defense screens, I¡¯m talking interior walls. It¡¯s still more force than you can imagine.¡±


    Mark was the only real person in the room. Once he had finished the registration setup, the tutorial started. The tutorial was being administered by a grizzled old Gunny Sergeant.


    Angie could watch him on the monitors, if she wanted to. She could look across the lab and see him, his body, sitting in a chair. Neither thing was likely to be helpful. It was t-minus 30 minutes. There wasn¡¯t much time for anything. Billy Long Hair and Billy were finalizing Mark¡¯s pod. Meanwhile, Mark was using the an old fashion VR helmet. Once his pod was ready, he would have to disconnect and change devices.


    Right now Angie and Janet were making sure the software and hardware was ready to go. The powerup sequence had worked perfectly. Actually, all of the start up sequences were working the way they were supposed to. Mostly all of the systems were working. The small problems were easily fixed. For the hundredth time Angie asked Janet ¡°If I go into the game, are you sure you can handle this?¡±


    For the hundredth time, Janet answered the same way, ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± She waited long enough for Angie to start to talk again before she finished the answer. ¡°And I would be worse than useless in the game. Same for Billy Long Hair and Lizzie and Nona and Joe and Tazuki. Our best positions are right here monitoring the system.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not the best player in the world.¡±


    ¡°And as team leader you get some bonuses.¡± Angie frowned, Janet continued quickly, ¡°besides, I¡¯m the worst player in the world. So let¡¯s stick with your plan.¡±


    Angie¡¯s frown deepened. ¡°My new plan.¡±


    ¡°Your new plan.¡± Janet fixed her with a look. ¡°Can we get to work now? We need to¡­¡± her voice trailed off. Angie followed her look to a large screen monitor.


    On the monitor they could see Mark running through a combat course. Three TU¡¯COn riflemen fired from exposed positions. Really exposed positions, like the TU¡¯COns didn¡¯t know they could hide behind the sandbag wall. Mark missed the first one. Technically, the enemies were shooting back, but their aim was so bad and their shots were so far off that Mark would have to try real hard to get hit. Much like the practice TU¡¯COns, Mark missed again.


    ¡°Maybe I¡¯m not the worst player in the world,¡± Janet said. She looked at Angie quickly and then back to the monitor. Mark had zeroed in and shot the first one. His second shot was amazing and took out the second shooter. ¡°See, he¡¯s getting it.¡± The slight relaxation that had passed through both Janet and Angie vanished as the next shot went so wild that a dead bird crashed to earth. Feathers fell like rain.


    ¡°Are you kidding me recruit?¡± The Gunny Drill Sergeant roared. ¡°That was the worst shot I have ever seen!¡± The Drill Sergeant summed up what Angie was thinking.

 7. T-Minus 15

    <h1 class="western">T-MINUS 15</h1>


    T-minus 15 minutes. Angie and Janet walked into the pod area. Mark was still sitting there wearing the old style VR helmet. Slowly he reanimated. Billy Long Hair took the VR helmet off of Mark¡¯s head. Both of them were still dressed.


    Heather and Mike had already been settled into their pods and closed up. Angie didn¡¯t see anything amiss with them or the readouts. She had checked the monitors before she walked into this area. Angie turned to Janet again.


    ¡°You will have to start setting up the next set of gear. Don¡¯t forget you need to crossover the x16.¡±


    ¡°And if I don¡¯t it will cost us precious hours of repair work.¡± She ticked off the items Angie kept repeating to her. ¡°We can power up the beta units on Aux 6, but don¡¯t connect them to the main system until the squad is out of the main game arena. Oh yeah. Y203. I need to be careful of that too.¡± She paused and struck a clueless girl pose and tapped her head. ¡°How will I remember all of this?¡± Janet looked at her phone and then held it up. ¡°Hey, it says all of this on the checklists that you and I wrote together.¡±


    Angie was frowning at her. The frown had been more and more a part of her life as the competition got closer. It had gotten worse today. ¡°My place is here, not in there.¡±


    ¡°Today, your place is in there. If you can prove that your hardware is the best, our future will be so bright¡­.¡±


    They finished the saying together. ¡°...we¡¯ll need to wear shades.¡± The founding members of Team Bloop had chosen the motto. Angie had seen no point in changing it. After all, it was a good and important connection to the founding members. They had graduated and had gotten good jobs. The old team had made some suggestions, but they took the rules seriously. The rules said people employed in the field or alumni of the team should not help out their old team.


    Mark stood up. ¡°So what now?¡±


    ¡°Learn to shoot straight?¡±


    Mark turned to Janet. ¡°Funny.¡±


    ¡°I thought so. Take your clothes off, we have 15 minutes until go time.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Is this a joke?


    Janet pointed towards the two closed capsules. The doors had huge windows in them. Heather and Mike were in their underwear.. Their faces were peaceful. Like they were asleep. Wires ran to fancy headbands. Headbands wasn¡¯t the right word. The headbands had metal strips that went from one point, traced over their heads and connected to the opposite side of the headband. Helmets wasn¡¯t the right word either. Metal helmets with big patches cut out?


    He looked to Angie. She was thoughtful. She hadn¡¯t thought this part out either. A glance at a capsule showed that Heather had put on a sports bra. Angie had on a regular bra. Victoria¡¯s Secret standard issue black lace. With some push up support. Not too much push, lots of support.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Billy Long Hair and Momma Robin got them wired up and running while you were hunting seagulls.¡± He frowned at her. She didn¡¯t even look up. ¡°Now its your turn. We have a bet about what kind of underwear you¡¯re wearing.¡± She looked at her watch. ¡°14 minutes until go time.¡±


    Mark frowned and pulled off his shirt. Shoes and socks were next. He hesitated as he looked at his belt buckle. He looked around the room. Angie was in her bra and starting to unbutton her jeans. She looked him in the eye and gave a half smile. With a grimace like she was pulling off a band-aid she jerked her jeans down.


    I have never felt so humiliated.  Her roommate¡¯s dad was seeing her naked. Not naked, just in her underwear. This was her lucky bra. Only one guy had ever seen it before now. That guy had been a ripped hunk of beefcake. At the time, Angie knew she was lucky to be in the bedroom with the guy that every girl at the party wanted to be with. Then, hunky beefcake fumbled with the bra catch and somebody walked in on them. Despite the person¡¯s quick retreat, the interruption was a serious mood killer. The bra was no longer lucky.


    Later Angie found out he hooked up with another girl that night. Not long after, the other girl was crying over an STD. The bra that wouldn¡¯t open for that pig turned out to be lucky after all. Thank God I avoided that horrible mistake.


    Now she wore the lucky bra when she had a test or a big event like this. Anytime she might need a little boost. Maybe the bra would still be lucky even though she was in her underwear in front of her friend¡¯s dad. Well, kind of Sarah¡¯s dad. Kind of...


    She watched his face and smiled. He was looking her in the eye when he took a deep breath, held it and shucked his pants off. Standard issue boxers. With a Route 66 travel the country map and cartoon artwork. And a frayed waistband.


    Janet snickered. Mark frowned. ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on stripping down today.¡±


    ¡°Me either,¡± Angie answered. There are a lot of unplanned things going on today.


    ¡°You know what they say,¡± Janet chimed in as she guided him to a pod.


    ¡°What do they say?¡± Billy Long hair was attaching electrodes to Mark. Calves, thighs, abs, biceps, chest, all over.


    ¡°They say when you¡¯re going to the doctor or the engineers, always wear your best clean underwear.¡± Janet looked down at Mark¡¯s boxers. ¡°You know, the ones without the holes.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± They slipped wired caps over his fingers. ¡°When do you strip down?¡±


    ¡°Only in your dreams.¡± Everybody smiled. ¡°Step back.¡± She guided him into the capsule. ¡°Breathe deep and relax.¡±


    She closed the door.


    Across from him, Angie was getting into her capsule. ¡°If you tell me to relax, I¡¯ll vomit.¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t relax you¡¯ll vomit,¡± Billy Long Hair said as he looked at her readings, ¡°or your heart will explode.¡±


    ¡°A heart attack will do less damage to the equipment.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the right attitude,¡± Janet said from across the room.


    Billy Long Hair closed Angie¡¯s capsule.

 8. Equipment Check

    <h1 class="western">EQUIPMENT CHECK</h1>


    The rocket exploded against the tank¡¯s turret. Mark squeezed the firing trigger again. ¡°T-minus 5 minutes.¡± The announcement in Mark¡¯s helmet startled him. This rocket went high over the tank. Please no more birds.  The rocket exploded harmlessly way way down range. Mark was unhappy, but he managed to put 4 of the five rockets on target.


    ¡°That will have to do, boot.¡± The DI said with a serious hint of disappointment. ¡°Your fire team needs you.¡± He pointed at a door. ¡°Through there.¡±


    Angie had planned on giving her equipment a quick check. That was easy. Everything was missing or broken. Her heads up display just showed the outline. When she launched the menu, everything was grayed out. Status, display, targeting, inventory, map, stats, team, outline, frame, tabs or windows were displaying. Just the grayed out menu.


    None of her equipment was here. She had on the standard dark gray space marine fatigues. She owned Level 5 armor and a tricked out G-78 accelerator rifle and it was missing. All of her other goodies were gone too. Her locker- the one with her name on it was locked. There was no keypad or keyhole or combination dial. It was just locked.


    Mike and Heather had told her to relax. The devs probably shut everything down except for this room. They told her that flipping through menus was useless. Nothing was available. It was pointless to try and open the locker. Mike and Heather had spent 15 minutes doing everything they could to open their lockers. To open Angie¡¯s locker. To open Mark¡¯s locker. They had zip to show for their work. The door was locked too. That keypad blinked red with every combination they put in. No force was going to open it. No communication devices were working.


    ¡°They want us to just chill,¡± Mike observed.


    ¡°I¡¯m chill!¡± Heather was upbeat.


    ¡°One more aggravating thing happens and I am going to scream.¡± The door slid open and Mark came through. He didn¡¯t even try to hold the door open. Anything in the door should trip a sensor and keep it open. Angie tried to lunge over. ¡°Hold it!¡±


    Mark turned back towards the door. It seemed like he was glacially slow. The door slammed shut behind him.


    Angie growled, but didn¡¯t scream.


    Mark looked at his hands. ¡°I had a rocket launcher a second ago.¡±


    Before he could say anything else, a chime sounded. Then a robotic voice. Text scrolled in front of Angie¡¯s face as the voice read.


    ¡°Devil Center Challenge. Scenario rules follow:


    1. No prior military experience allowed


    2. All characters are set to level 1, except for 1 Lance Corporal Fire Team Leader


    3. At the end of the challenge, players may choose to keep this character or revert to previous characters


    4. No stat adjustments are available until after the first mission


    5. Teams that fail to achieve primary objectives will be eliminate from the competition


    6. Judges and industry professionals are monitoring all teams and feeds. Your setups will be visited and analyzed as well as the in-game performance of your setups.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    7. Performance of hardware and software interface is paramount. However, you must survive to demonstrate capabilities.


    8. Decision of the judges is final. Contest organizers, University and Space Opera Ventures Gaming, LLC, are not responsible for any damages or injuries. Players accept full responsibility for their actions as outlined in the relevant EUA and Dev User Agreements.


    9. All players have 10 seconds to accept these conditions.


    A green countdown clock appeared and counted down from 10. A big green button labeled accept and a big red button labeled ¡°REFUSE¡± appeared. Angie pressed accept. The buttons disappeared and the words ¡°Thus It Begins¡± appeared and the countdown continued.


    At zero, a klaxon sounded. The lights blinked off and came back red. Everything was bathed in the red emergency lights. The klaxon stopped and a face appeared in the wall mounted viewscreens. The face belonged to the ship¡¯s captain.


    ¡°Good morning crew! We are uh-pproaching Tu¡¯Con territory.¡± The captain spoke with a southern accent. ¡°If you look at your monitors you can see planet RX6. Right now the Federation Alliance owns it and we plan on keeping this rock.¡± The captain¡¯s face was replaced by the image of a rotating planet. It looked the same as every other blue and green planet.


    ¡°We keep it by attacking the next TU¡¯Con planet down the line. Then the cycle repeats as we fight for planets and leapfrog all the way back to TU¡¯Con itself.¡± He paused. Maybe he was thinking that this was going to be a long war. Especially if each planet had to change times four or five times like RX6 did.


    The captain appeared back on screen. ¡°In 15 minutes, I want marines to start boarding the landing craft. In 30 minutes we jump with the rest of the fleet to target planet Bullseye10.¡±


    The Klaxon sounded again and then cut off. ¡°What is that?¡± The captain was looking off screen. ¡°No! That¡¯s impossible.¡±


    The ship shook violently. Everybody was thrown across the cabin. Angie crashed into Mark who feel to the floor. System messages appeared warning that they were taking damage. One or two hit points gone. Their displays were working! That was the important thing. The default displays were live. It showed all of the things the game developers thought were important.


    ¡°They¡¯re going to ram! ¡± Somebody on the bridge, not the captain, was yelling. There was a massive explosion and everybody was thrown around again. Mark had held on to Angie. She didn¡¯t receive any damage notifications.¡± Somebody was swearing. Heather was swearing, but not with the ferocity of Mark. Mike was mumbling something.


    ¡°Marines get to your assigned launch boats. The boats will depart in 15, I say again, one-five minutes. All personnel repel boarders.¡± There was a third explosion. This was different. A shuttering crash and horrible grinding noise.


    All of the lockers popped open. They were full of equipment. With a flurry of knees and elbows that all seemed to land in Mark¡¯s stomach, Angie scrambled to her feet and rushed to her locker. As quickly as she could grab things, they were added to her inventory. More clicks and choices and she was wearing standard fleet armor, including helmet. Her equipment harness and backpack was on. She was holding a G-78 rifle that was locked, cocked and ready to rock.


    Heather and Mike were geared up and ready to go. Mark had emptied his locker, but was slow in equipping.


    Angie took the time to adjust her display. On the lower edge she put up small frames. Each held the picture of a team member with their hit points, strength and stamina. On the right edge were her own stats. Lower left corner was the map. Lower right had the system message/chat display and all of her hot buttons for inventory and stuff.


    Another explosion and violent shake of the ship. Time was wasting. ¡°Let¡¯s move. I¡¯ll lead. Mike, you run drag.¡± She turned to Heather and Mark, keep up and stay sharp.¡± The door open when she hit the latch plate. The hallway had swirls of smoke wisping through it. The map said go left, so they went left.


    Another alarm was sounding. A robotic voice announced a depressurization alert. What the hell did that mean?


    From a corridor up ahead, a Tu¡¯Cons warrior ran out. Tu¡¯Cons were bulky, scaly beasts with big eyes. It turned its laser rifle towards them. Before it could pull the trigger, Angie pulled hers. A burst of slugs accelerated out of the rifle with blue electrical flashes. Shots punched holes in the Tu¡¯Cons and then through the bulkhead.


    ¡°Damn.¡± Now she knew what the depressurization alarm was from. The G-78s could shoot through the bulkheads.

 9. Mark and the TUCOn

    <h1 class="western">LAG PROBLEMS</h1>


    ¡°Look, look at that monitor.¡± On the monitor, a space marine in green armour, was running in place. His teammates were running ahead of him. One of them turned to look.


    In the Devil Center Operations room, Director Jasmine Lens was holding court. A camera man was diligent filming every word she said so it cold be streamed to people around the world.


    ¡°That¡¯s the Reen Pencils. They have a serious lag problem.¡± The monitor had text on the lower edge of she screen with the words Collins, Reen Pencils. Collins was the name of the Reen Pencils trooper running in place. His team was running down the hallway in front of him. Suddenly, like a drag race car, he sprinted unbelievably fast down the hallway. The hallway ended in a T intersection. The rest of the squad went left. Collins didn¡¯t slow down at all. He crashed headlong into the wall.


    ¡°Is this a game problem?¡± Colin, a handsome blonde hunk of an interviewer asked. Colin had been a journalism student here at the college. A capable journalist and easy on the eyes, perfect to be one of the field reporters for the streaming broadcast.


    ¡°We are monitoring the data stream coming and going out of the Pencil¡¯s setup,¡± Lens answered. ¡°The problem is definitely with their setup. If it was a speed lag or a connectivity problem, every team would have the same problem.¡± She motioned to a different monitor. ¡°The Ducks aren¡¯t having any issues. Same for Team Cryaons, and Team Mountain Men and Team Powder Puff Gs.¡± The teams on the other monitors were operating fine. Collins was in a lump on the ground. A TU¡¯Con was approaching while twirling a pair of wicked knives.


    <h1 class="western">Mark and the TU''COn</h1>


    So far everything is going well, Angie thought. She had killed a TU¡¯Con. So had Mike. They had to stop using the G-78s. The captain had made that announcement a while ago. The accelerator rifles packed a hell of a punch. A punch that would send a slug straight through the bulkhead. The ship was in enough trouble without being vented by who knows how many trigger happy marines. You also didn¡¯t know if there was a fellow marine on the other side of the bulkhead. They may not be on your team, but all of the marines were on the same side.


    As the team ran past a side passage, a TU¡¯Con leapt out. It was a bulky, scaly humanoid beasts with big eyes. No bigger than Mark, but probably weighed 50, even 100 pounds more. Most of that weight was muscle mass, Mark decided as he was knocked into the wall.


    Fortunately the Tu¡¯Con had used his laser rifle like a hockey stick as he cross checked Mark into the wall. If he had been shooting, Mark would have been long dead. The Tu¡¯Con laughed and came closer. His plan was obvious- beat Mark to death.


    Mark dodged the next swing and drew his knife. The Tu¡¯Con swung and again Mark dodged it. After the swing, Mark stepped forward and stabbed his knife into the belly of the Tu¡¯Con. That was the plan anyway.


    Angie was watching as Mark fought the Tu¡¯Con. Mike was quickly moving up to help. Something was wrong, Mark wasn¡¯t fighting. His arm seemed frozen. The rest of his body was apparently able to move, just not the arm. Then his arm moved inhumanly fast. It pistoned the knife in and out of the Tu¡¯Con several times.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    The end result was a very bloody and very dead Tu¡¯Con, a live Mark and a swearing Angie. As Mark took the fallen TU¡¯CON¡¯s laser rifle and ammo, Angie was sending a message. She hoped dev messages would be allowed through the game firewall. Janet, Billy, the whole team should be watching, Or fixing stuff.  Just in case they weren¡¯t she was writing them.


    Message sent, she scanned the small team displays on her HUD. Mark had lost HPs but not too many. Everybody else was fine. It was time to move out again.


    Over the team intercom she heard Mike. ¡°Heather, be ready.¡±


    ¡°For what?¡± As she ran she looked left and right. Nothing but hallway. And the occasional door.


    ¡°We¡¯ve killed 3 of them. One in front for Angie, one back here for me and one for Mark. Looks like they are trying to get everybody in the action. You¡¯re next.¡±


    Mike¡¯s theory made sense. Heather still screamed when a door opened just in front of her and a Tu¡¯Con reached out. Because she had jumped away in terror, the Tu¡¯Con wasn¡¯t able to grab her. Angie raised the laser rifle she had taken off a dead Tu¡¯Con. Mark was behind the target. So was Mike. If she missed she would drill one of her own people.


    Mark didn¡¯t have the same problem and he was much closer. Tu¡¯Con hands were the same shape as a human hand, but thicker. The grip on his newly captured laser rifle was easy enough for Mark. The pressure it took to pull the trigger was ridiculously heavy. The first shot missed as he jerked the trigger. The second shot scarred the wall on the other side of the Tu¡¯Con. One shot behind, one shot in front, the third shot hit its target. The Tu¡¯Con fell. Heather screamed.


    <h1 class="western">INTERVIEW WITH BILLY KLINE</h1>


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Jasmine Lens said to Colin. ¡°The first stage is just a warm up. We want the teams to exercise their equipment. They need to see what works and what doesn¡¯t.¡± He gave a wry smile. ¡°Many of the teams are finding problems with their setup.¡±


    ¡°It looks like even the legacy teams that have competed year after year are having problems?¡± Colin followed up.


    ¡°The game doesn¡¯t stay static. There are always updates and¡­.¡± She nodded her head to Billy Kine.


    Kine, Lead Developer of the Space Opera game, answered. ¡°We are actually in a beta test for some new protocols we are rolling out. The teams have had access to the protocols for about two weeks. If the test is successful we will slowly make them available to the public.¡±


    Kine smiled. He knew first hand what the teams were going through. It was his regular everyday life. ¡°After all, the system gets updates, software and clients get updates. All of the manufacturers need to be able to upgrade as well. The best teams will adapt and overcome.¡±

 10. The Landing Bay

    <h1 class="western">ABANDON SHIP</h1>


    Angie stopped her team. The map in the corner of her HUD showed her they were close to their destination.


    ¡°This hasn¡¯t been too tough yet.¡±


    ¡°Uh, they¡¯re letting us burn in the equipment before it gets too tough,¡± Mike chimed in. ¡°But game-wise,¡± he let that thought hang.


    Angie started talking. ¡°Game wise they¡¯ve been easy on us. That won¡¯t last. On the other side of this door, we need to be ready for more. I don¡¯t know if it¡¯ll be a boss or a bunch of these Tu¡¯Con grunts.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s go time,¡± Mike insisted, ¡°It¡¯s go time.¡±


    As if on cue, the Captain¡¯s image appeared in their visors. Like every other player on the ship, Angie cursed and tried to swipe the image from the center of her HUD to a corner. It was no use, the Captain was full screen in her HUD and blocking out almost everything.


    ¡°Abandon ship, abandon ship. All hands abandon ship. We have sustained critical damage. All hands get to your escape pods. Good luck and God¡¯s speed.¡± The image disappeared.


    On the bridge the captain was devastated. He was an NPC, an artificial intelligence non-payment character. Still he had thoughts and personality and a huge sense of honor and duty.


    His ship was crumbling. He had given the worst order he ever could have- abandon ship. Now he yelled at his bridge crew to get to their pods. They ignored him. All of them were NPCS, AI, as well. If any player walked in the bridge they would have seen them act like real people. If real people would stay at their posts that is.


    Stupid people, the captain thought. The ship shuttered. A glance at the damage board showed more decompression on deck 6 port side. Stupid marines firing accelerators and tossing armor piercing grenades inside a starship! Stupid, stupid, stupid.


    Stupid TU¡¯Con bastard ramming and boarding his ship, his baby. I¡¯ll be dammed to hell before I let the TU¡¯CONs have my ship.


    A console popped and showered sparks. The helmsman¡¯s mate jumped back. He shook his hands instinctively, but none of the sparks did any damage.


    ¡°Get off the bridge!¡± The captain roared. ¡°I¡¯m not going to tell you again!¡±


    ¡°Sir,¡± it was his executive officer, ¡°if you¡¯re going to fight this ship to the last, I¡¯m with you.¡±


    Over the intercom, from engineering, ¡°We¡¯re not rats, sir.¡± Had the comms officer left the video on? No matter. The captain was full of pride in his crew.


    ¡°We¡¯re not going down without a fight!¡± He pointed at the TU¡¯CON carrier. ¡°Ramming speed.¡±


    <h1 class="western">THE LANDING BAY</h1>


    ¡°Shit!¡± Somebody said over the squad intercom.


    Uh, I told you it was go time.¡± That was Mike, and he was right.


    Door on three. Mark go left, I¡¯ll go right,¡± Angie ordered. ¡°Mike shoot from the door, Heather you too.¡±


    Everybody tensed. Three seconds later Angie nodded and Mike did something. The door opened. On the other side was a war.


    Normally the cavernous lander prep bay was an orderly place. The Hanger Deck Chief kept order with an iron fist. The landers had always been parked in their designated places. Even when Engines were dropped for maintenance, it was orderly and as neat as possible.


    If the deck chief was still alive he would stroke out immediately after seeing the state his beloved bay was in.


    One of the landers must have exploded and flipped two of her sisters. Burn marks and bullet holes were everywhere. Debris was scattered. Billowing smoke obscured visibility.


    And there were laser bolts. Lots of Laser bolts criss-crossed the lander prep bay as TU¡¯CONS fought marine players.


    Angie had to push Mark to get him moving through the door and to his side. Angie ran to hers and crouched down, looking for a target. She found one and aimed.


    ¡°Wait,¡± she ordered. It didn¡¯t look like Mark was about to shoot and Mike hadn¡¯t pulled his trigger either. ¡°If the haven¡¯t noticed us,¡± Angie paused.


    Mike picked up the thought. ¡°Lets sneak. Good plan.¡±


    ¡°Heather, come here.¡± Heather ducked through the door and got alongside Angie. ¡°Cover us.¡± Heather didn¡¯t respond, but raised her rifle. Mark has been quiet too.


    She pushed that aside and called up her map.


    ¡°Those landers aren¡¯t going anywhere,¡± Mike advised.


    Thank you corporal obvious. She found what she was looking for on the map. Her concentration was broken when Mike suddenly opened fire.


    ¡°They spotted us,¡± He explained. His shots were on target, the TU¡¯CON sported two extra holes in his head.


    ¡°Mark, go left, in 49 meters is a door. Take it. That should lead to a hallway with escape pods.¡± There was no hesitation in Mark this time. He started to trot forward. He kept his rifle aimed forward. Mike followed. Heather was next and Angie last.


    A laser bolt hit in front of Heather. She screamed. Mike and Angie were quick on the trigger. Mark fired too, but not as quickly. Heather swore.


    Normal people wouldn¡¯t be 100% sure who fired the killing shot. The game system was sure. It was also sure who contributed damage.


    Full screen across Mark¡¯s HUD the words ¡°+25 xp¡± appeared. ¡°What the hell?¡± He had no idea how to stop these messages from appearing in front of his face and he couldn¡¯t see a darned thing through them. 2 seconds later it disappeared.


    Angie and Mike were yelling at him to move. ¡°How the hell am I supposed to move if I can¡¯t see?¡± Nobody answered him, except to yell at him to move.


    He started to run again. His eyes were searching for the door. There it was up ahead. 10 meters, 5 meters. What?????


    He was flying through the air. It was a short flight followed by a crash landing into the floor. The breath was knocked out of him. What the hell kind of game wouldn¡¯t let him take a deep breath. A sudden searing pain in his thigh. What the hell?The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    He looked back. He had been shot. Another laser blast hit the wall. Mark looked for the shooter. He found him and pointed the captured TU¡¯CON laser rifle. He jerked back the trigger and held it. Easier to hold it than gently squeeze. In the tutorial Gunnery Sergeant Emry said to squeeze it gently, like you were caressing a woman. F that. He held the trigger.


    He let go when he saw the TU¡¯Con slump over. There were two more bodies right there. No time to worry about that now. The door, he had to get to the door. It hurt to bend his leg.


    Angie yanked him up and steadied him as he got his legs under him. ¡°Nice shooting,¡± she said. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    The others were already out the door. Mark followed Angie as best he could. He couldn¡¯t see as messages about ¡°+90 xp¡± filled his view screen. There had to be a way to fix this.


    As they ran down the hallway the red lights blinked out. The ship was plunged into darkness. Seconds later, the red lights came on again.


    The captain was making another announcement. Thank God it¡¯s just audio this time. Mark was terrified that a critical second would be interrupted by the full screen image of the captain or XP notices would obscure his view. ¡°Brace for impact in 1 minute,¡± the captain instructed.


    Eight Star Marines were in the corridor when Mark made it through the door. He could see names and team names over their heads. Why am I seeing names now? I don¡¯t understand!!!


    One of the Marines, Beastboy6 from team BEASTBOYS, was at the hatch to a shuttle. Beastboy6 grabbed a marine named beastboy3 and yanked him through into the shuttle.


    Xman235 was next. Beastboy6 pushed him away. ¡°We¡¯re full. Find your own damn pod.¡± Beastboy6 grabbed Beastboy2 and yanked him through the door. A glare and pointed rifle kept XMAN235 from coming through the door. Right after Beastboy6 stepped backwards, the pod door slammed shut separating the BEASTBOYS from everybody else.


    ¡°Stupid bastard!¡± XMAN235 swore. Another marine, Southaven was also swearing. Both of them were from team MYNdBendz.


    Mark shook his head. ¡°I thought we were all on the same side,¡± he said. Everybody ignored his naivete.


    ¡°YES!¡± Mike exclained as the hatch to another pod slid open. Heather was the first one through the hatch. Angie was in line next. Mark was the furthest away and was doing his best to hobble closer. His leg felt like it was on fire.


    XMAN235 cut in line in front of Angie. Mike blocked his way.


    Before either could speak, a door at the end of the hall opened and a space marine- TESTTESTQWERTY came running through. A TU¡¯COn was hot on his heels.


    The TU¡¯Con hesitated. Everybody except TESTTESTQWERTY hesitated. Mike was half in the hatch and couldn¡¯t get his weapon in target. Both Angie and XMAN were aiming, but Mark, Southaven and TESTTESTQWERTY were in the line of fire.


    Slowly, painfully slowly, like he was purposely moving in slow motion, the TU¡¯Con raised his laser rifle. TESTTESTQWERTY was running and yelling ¡°Shoot! Shoot it!¡±


    Mark raised his rifle. He didn¡¯t have a shot. TESTTESTQWERTY was running straight at him.


    Southaven only had a G78 accelerator rifle. He leaned to the side, jerked the trigger and blew holes in the hallway behind the TU¡¯Con.


    If the system had been throttling the TU¡¯Con¡¯s AI to give the players a chance, that blessing had ended. The TU¡¯Con aimed and fired. It was a classic three round burst. His training sergeant was must be proud, Mark thought. Another three round burst followed immediately.


    TESTTESTQWERTY¡¯s armour held the first two bolts. The next four all hit the exact same spot and punched through. Gunny would be orgasmic if I could do that. Mark didn¡¯t have time for another thought.


    TESTTESTQWERTY screamed as he fell sprawling in front of and then into Mark. Mark jerked his trigger as TESTTESTQWERTY took out his legs.


    More shots whizzed over his head as Angie and Southaven finally had a sight of the target and fired. XMAN still couldn¡¯t get a clear shot.


    I¡¯m so tired of falling. Mark bashed his head on the deck. Everything was blurry for a few seconds. A barely cogent thought And I am so tired of seeing those XP messages right in front of my eyes.


    Mark rolled over and ponderously got to his knees. Back over at the hatch, he saw Angie nod. Mike went into the pod. XMAN quickly followed.


    Everything was quiet. Totally quiet. Mark could see Angie¡¯s mouth moving. She had to be yelling, but he couldn¡¯t hear her. He started getting to his feet and moving forward. Angie fired laser blasts past him.


    Mark flinched. She fired past him again. He turned to look back. More TU¡¯Cons. I should have guessed that. It looked like one of them was shouting, but there was still nothing, no noise. TESTTESTQWERTY was just lying there.


    He grabbed hold of TESTTESTQWERTY and started dragging. Southaven quickly joined him and they dragged TESTTESTQWERTY into the pod. Once inside, Southaven let go. The weight was more than Mark expected. He lost his grip on the body and almost toppled over.


    Angie came in after them and the door slammed shut.


    Mark didn¡¯t bother trying to get to the benches. He just slumped to the ground. He was tired. Really tired. His leg hurt, badly. His head hurt worse.


    With effort, Angie worked her way past the dead TESTTESTQWERTY and the live Mark, Inconveniently, he was sitting on the floor right in her way. She walked past the acceleration couches. The pod wasn¡¯t big, but there was enough room for this number of people. It was designed to cram in 14 people.


    ¡°Launch us,¡± she yelled. She really wanted to yell at XMAN to get out of her seat, but it was more important to get clear of the Antonio Lopez and the collision.


    A sudden jolt tossed her backwards. The pod launched away from the mother ship. Another, harder jolt as the pod accelerated. If Angie had she looked, she would have seen the Antonio Lopez bearing in on the TU¡¯CON carrier.


    Just this minute, she was much more concerned with their course. And that lag that Mark experienced. And Mark¡¯s hesitation. And Heather was complaining about a tingling in her left hand. Her fingers kept spasaming. And a million other things that nagged at her.


    First things first, ¡°Where are we going?¡±


    <h1 class="western"></h1>


    <h1 class="western">THE DEV CENTER: RAMMING SPEED</h1>


    In the development center, Competition Project Manager Jasmine Lens watched the monitor. The Federation Alliance Star Ship Antonio Lopez was accelerating toward the TU¡¯Con carrier Master Ti¡¯hu.


    There were a lot of people in the Dev Center Control Room. Most of them were techs. There was a tech assigned to each team. They were responsible for monitoring their feed, data in and out, network connection and even gameplay.


    Jessalyn and Colin, the reporters, were watching the main screen. Their camera ops were shooting B-Roll, extra footage, of what was going on.


    There were a few ¡°luxury boxes¡± overlooking the control room. Sometimes the VIPs would come down into the control room. Right now, everybody was focused on the game¡¯s main screen. Seconds ago the monitor showed Team Bloop, Team Beastboys and a half of Team MYNdBenz as they fought in the corridor of the Antonio Lopez. Before that Team PepMption was making their escape look easy. Right now, though, the monitor didn¡¯t have one of the teams, it showed the current space sector. The Federation Alliance Star Ship Antonio Lopez was still accelerating toward the TU¡¯Con carrier Master Ti¡¯hu.


    Jasmine leaned over to Lead Developer Billy Kline. ¡°Amazing.¡±


    Kline smiled. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve been able to code. It felt great to do this part.¡± They watched. Pods were escaping both ships, rats off sinking ships. People in the control center, people around the world who had signed into the live stream, everybody held their breath as the ships collided. Metal twisted and impossibly as the ships crushed into one ugly mass.


    Then came the explosion. It was epic. A huge blue white flash of energy release. Then everything collapsed inward as if a massive black hole had appeared followed quickly by a massive firey explosion. An expanding fireball erupted around the ships followed by a cloud of debris. Soon, just two shattered hulks of intertwined metal remained, burning and arcing and shedding even more debris. Some of the debris wiggled and screamed.


    It was a glorious spectacle of programming and effects. People who watched the stream through their VR gear could feel the full effects. The buffeting of the shock wave. The heat of the fireball. Even the pelting of minor debris. Yes, space was a vaccuum where nobody could hear you scream, but in this universe, the sound of the explosion, the shriek of twisting metal and even screams of the humans and TU¡¯COns echoed.


    Jasmine just stared at the spectacle. Kline smiled. They were going to make a fortune off of this scene.

 Need some opinions on title and description

    I need some help. After not getting a lot of reads, I took a look at the basics- are the title and description interesting enough? I am worried the answer is NO. So, I am looking for some feedback on my title and description.


    My current title is: Space Opera


    A possible new title is: The Costa Brava Scenario, A Space Opera novel


    Any thoughts on the title?


    The original description (at the bottom of the post) is probably too long and not interesting enough. What do you think of the 2 possible new descriptions?


    New Description Choice 1:


    Angie¡¯s heart started beating again. After the betrayal, she almost wished it wouldn¡¯t. Angie had spent 6 years of her life getting ready for this moment, the moment the competition would start, the moment her team would prove they were the best. Now, instead of supervising the engineering team, she needed to lead a squad of in-game players. It would be hellish, but she would go through gaming hell to lead her team to victory in the Space Opera VR systems challenge.


    New Description Option 2:


    Game On!


    Space Opera galaxy, a planet is ready and waiting for 21 squads of players. These squads are playing in a special competition with brand new developmental VR hardware. The engineers have it easy, they have to keep the VR systems running in real life. The players have it hard- they have to win the scenario to prove the amazing new VR hardware really is great.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The game starts in t-minus 4 hours¡­.


    The Old Description (which you have probably seen):


    How do you get fame, fortune, mountains of money, and validation of your life?


    Space Opera VR Systems Challenge.


    Space Opera VR Systems Challenge? Follow these 5 easy steps:


    Team Bloop never considered the possibility of betrayal until it happened. Years of work and effort all hinged on the squad that Team President Angie could assemble. Then all they would have to do is win.


    All of your thoughts and suggestions are welcome.


    Many Thanks!

 11. First Intermission

    Everything was black. A very disorienting black. Seconds ago he was in a life boat, an escape pod, same thing, whatever. He was sitting on the floor next to a dead trooper named TESTTESTQWERTY. That was a stupid name. But the guy with the stupid name was dead.


    Mark was alive. The live boat jerked and accelerated. Mark got to see the explosion. His transport ship, the Antonio Lopez and the TU¡¯Con ship had collided and exploded.


    Mark couldn¡¯t hear the explosion. Maybe that was because of space. But then again, mark couldn¡¯t hear anything. Maybe the last time he fell or shot or something he went deaf. Messages flashed fast across his HUD back then.


    Even if he couldn¡¯t hear the explosion, he felt it. The shockwave sent the lifeboat tumbling.


    The tumbling had sent Mark crashing around the back of the lifeboat. It was his own damn fault, even if he didn¡¯t want to admit it. He should have gone to one of the acceleration couches and strapped in.


    There was no chance now. The lifeboat rolled over and over. Mark was tossed around like laundry in a dryer.


    Then everything froze. Mark was upside down. He could see the floor he would crash into any second. It was an eight foot drop onto the hard deck. Best case he would land on TESTTESTQWERTY¡¯s dead body.


    He didn¡¯t fall. Everything was frozen. Another message appeared in front of his face. Some red letters he couldn¡¯t quite focus on. Before he could read it, everything went black. A deep quiet black. A disorienting black.


    The black ended with some loud clangs and a bright light. Mark blinked. The door to his capsule was opening.


    ¡°Just stay there for a minute,¡± a woman¡¯s voice. He didn¡¯t remember meeting hearing the voice before. ¡°Most people want to climb right out, especially after their first time. That can be a bad thing. And you won¡¯t get far if we don¡¯t disconnect the sensors first.¡±


    She leaned in close to his head. She had short brown hair. In fact she looked a little mousy. Nope, haven¡¯t met her before.


    ¡°Look at this? Your ear buds are out.¡± She kept talking as she looked at the other side of his head, presumably looking for another earbud. ¡°Yup, the other one is out too. We¡¯re you able to hear anything? Was it just muffled?¡±


    ¡°I couldn¡¯t hear,¡± was all he managed to say before she started talking again.


    ¡°That would have made me crazy if I was in there and couldn¡¯t hear. I suppose if you were using the chat you could still communicate with your team but still not being able to hear anything around you¡­¡±


    Mark had to interrupt her. ¡°Chat? What do you mean chat? A written thing?¡±


    ¡°Of course chat is enabled. How else could you privately talk to your companions without other players or even NPCs hearing?¡± Her super annoying voice continued. It wasn¡¯t that it was to squeaky. It was her weird cadance, like she was rushing some words and slowing others and putting the wrong emphasis and most of all, she wouldn¡¯t shut up.


    Mark closed his eyes and leaned back as she nattered on. The woman, he still didn¡¯t know her name, was now on about shoes or sensors or the sun or something. The woman was disconnecting the sensor wires from the pads stuck to various places on his body.


    Only now did he think about his clothes, or the lack of them. He was standing there in his boxer shorts.


    Now that he thought about it, the woman was wearing a long tshirt and¡­.it looked like she was in her underwear. He looked around the lab. Everybody was missing their pants or skirts or shorts or whatever. They kept their underwear, but no pants.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    One of the guys, Billy long hair?, was wearing Team Titans underwear. One girl had ¡°monday¡± written on her butt. Most people were plain except for Angie. Her lacy undies and bra set her apart in that respect.


    Another woman, her name was Janet? Janet was carrying a robe as she approached Angie. After a few words, Janet helped Angie into the robe.


    The annoying woman was back in his face. ¡°Now that you¡¯re disconnected, do you want a robe?¡± She held out a bathrobe. ¡°You might get a chill.¡±


    ¡°Thanks, who¡­¡± He knew if he didn¡¯t take this chance, there might not be another¡­¡°who are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Robin. A lot of ne call me, I mean a lot of them, people, call me mother Robin because I try and take care of everyone.¡± Mother Robin helped mark into the bathrobe. Once she tied the belt around his waist, she started talking again. ¡°Next we need to get you liquids, lots of liquids and some food. But I think Angie wants to do a debrief. First I think you should drink. People sweat a lot in there.¡± As she spoke, Momma Robin guided Mark down the hall. ¡°I¡¯m actually a nutritionist physio. Other people take care of the hardware and software, my job is taking care of the people ware.¡± Mark was sure she would never stop talking in her annoying voice.


    Angie looked at her assembled team: Three game players who didn¡¯t have anything to do with making the stuff or making it work; Janet, Billy and Billy and Momma Robin, they were friends, confidants and trusted assistants; and then another 15 or so other people.


    ¡°So, Mark you had problems.¡± She glanced at the notes on her phone. ¡°Earbuds fell out. No communication in or out.¡± Mark nodded his head as she read off the notes. ¡°I find the delay much more worrying.¡±


    She turned to Janet and her team. ¡°It happened more than once.¡±


    Janet answered, ¡°we know what¡¯s going on. We started by looking at the differences between Mark and Flanni. This led us into the interface relay¡­¡±


    Angie kept the meeting as short as she could. A glance at her watch said T-minus 215 minutes until the game restarted.


    She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Focus on one thing at a time. Break it down into steps and make it happen.


    Janet and Momma Robin were coming at her. Janet had her tablet out where she had been taking notes. Momma Robin had a tray. Soup, a burger and coffee. With help like this she might just get it all done.


    Billy Long Hair ran up to her, cutting the line. He had his own tablet in his hand. ¡°Look!¡± He handed her the tablet. They all looked at it.


    Teams Eliminated:


    <u>Best VR ever</u> (Players Killed, did not leave FA Antonio Lopez)


    <u>Reen Pencils</u> (Players Killed, did not leave FA Antonio Lopez)


    <u>Frontier Traders</u> (DQ)


    ¡°Wow!¡±


    Angie looked at the list again and again. Twenty One teams started. Three are out. She gave a little shiver. We were a minute away from ¡°did not leave FA Antonio Lopez.¡± *poof* all my work coulda been gone because we didn¡¯t get off the first boat. Damn!


    ¡°Any idea why there were disqualified?¡±


    Billy Long Hair shook his head. ¡°Nope. That¡¯s all it says. Want me to go find out?¡±


    They all looked at Angie. She let out a breath. ¡°No, we need you here.¡±


    ¡°I can go,¡± Momma Robin volunteered. ¡°Everybody else is eating and going to sleep. Once I get you taken care of, my mission is accomplished.¡±


    ¡°Ok.¡± Angie shook her head. ¡°We should have an intelligence team.¡± Did we have a spy team last year? I don¡¯t remember and Javi never mentioned anything about spies. But he did have Jennie hang out in the lounge¡­.


    Momma Robin smiled. ¡°When I¡¯m done playing Jane Bond, want me to call my sister and her friends and have them start spying?¡±


    ¡°Spying?¡± Janet was surprised.


    ¡°No, not spying. I just think my slut sister and her slut friends can be friendly and pick up some gossip.¡± She chuckled. ¡°And maybe a rich husband.¡±


    ¡°Would she settle for the potential to be rich?¡±


    ¡°I hope she settles for potential to be rich.¡±


    ¡°Hopefully not as rich as us.¡±

 12. Command Center: Intermission and Across The Galaxy: Symbla Jump 1

    <h1 class="western">COMMAND CENTER- INTERMISSION 1 INTERVIEW</h1>


    Jessalyn fidgeted with her hair, her foot tapped. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for her. IN the audition process she competed against all of the other girls in the Journalism School here at the university. And Jessalyn won. Now she was one of the two students who conducted all of the interviews for the LiveStream video.


    The control room was never empty. There were always people in here monitoring this or doing that, Jessalyn didn¡¯t know. From the prep materials, she knew each team had its own monitoring technician. There were senior techs and supervising techs and network people. The project manager had her staff in here too. When the game was going, this was a busy room. Right now was not one of those full busy times. Many of the techs were sneaking a nap or a snack. Once the game started, in another half hour or so, that would be another story.


    Jessalyn made herself take a deep breath. And another. And another. And then it was to late to take another. Kline was walking up to her. He had an easy going manner and a boyish charm. He was only a few years older than her, but he was a million years older in maturity than all of the boys at the university put together.


    He gave her a warm smile. She couldn¡¯t help but smile back. Remain in control, she thought, you¡¯re a professional. He¡¯s just an interview. An interview that millions of people will see. That¡¯s ridiculous, its just a live stream of a game. The biggest online VR game in the world. Millions of players and all of them could be watching. Take a deep breath. And another.


    Kline was sitting in a chair across from her. Craig, her cameraman, was getting Kline mic¡¯d up. They were chatting about something¡­.something about the game, pay attention, he might give a good angle.


    ¡°We¡¯re ready,¡± Craig said as he glanced at the audio meters on the camera¡¯s viewfinder.


    Jessalyn gave Craig the briefest of smiles, thanks buddy. She gave Kline a big smile.


    Before she could say anything he leaned forward. ¡°I just wanted to say, you¡¯ve been doing a great job. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re a student.¡±


    She didn¡¯t know what to say- this was the last thing she expected. ¡°uh, thanks.¡±


    ¡°no, thank you,¡± he said.


    Craig interrupted, ¡°thirty seconds out.¡±


    ¡°If I need any, uh, background information, can I see you, I mean call you?¡± What the hell are you doing? she yelled at herself inside, don¡¯t be stupid.


    ¡°Anytime Jess, I can give you my cell when we¡¯re done.¡± He leaned back, ready to do the interview.


    ¡°Standby,¡± Craig said. ¡°Three, two, one...¡±


    ¡°Thank you Nadeep, I¡¯m here again with Sam Kline, the lead developer for Space Opera online. Thank you for joining us, Sam.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m happy to be here with you and our fans.¡±


    ¡°Great, so one question many of our viewers have asked is ¡®why is there a pause in the game?¡¯ Well, Sam, why is there a pause?¡±


    ¡°Great question, Jess. We put a programmed time out in the game for a couple of reasons. The biggest reason is, the teams need one. They have just run their equipment through the first big test. They have a couple of hours to check for problems and do some troubleshooting.¡±


    ¡°Do the teams have a lot of troubleshooting to do?¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been where the engineers are now, there is always troubleshooting to do. Some things are big, some small, but they all need some attention.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s great. When the game resumes, do all of the teams get the same scenario?¡±


    ¡°Yes and no, Jess, yes and no. There is the same basic scenario, but there are small differences. We can¡¯t have 18 teams doing the same exact thing, it doesn¡¯t work in the game continuity. So things are a little different for each team.¡±


    ¡°You said 14 teams, but there are still 18 teams in the game. What¡¯s going on?¡±


    ¡°Good question, I should have said 14 different sub scenarios are in progress. 8 teams are aired up in full or in part. Team MyndBendz is split up. Two of their players are with Team Bloop and two players with Team Dirt Knights. Team AI is Great is with Team Gold Rush. The idea and challenges for each sub scenario are similar, but game continuity requires them to be slightly different.¡±


    ¡°Continuity is important, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Very important. Even though here the focus is on this competition, the Space Opera game as a whole continues with millions of players and billions of AIs. There is ALOT happening across the Space Opera Galaxy.¡±


    <h1 class="western">ACROSS THE GALAXY: SYBLA JUMP 1</h1>


    Sybla breathed a quick sigh of relief. Success was expected, but every jump carried the risk of failure. Her ship, the The Sussex Lorry, wasn''t a beat up tramp freighter, but the engines were do for a through maintenance. All it took was some time and more money.


    A scan of the instruments, one more check of the astrogation computer, both confirmed she was on track for her next jump in 20 minutes.


    It was possible to do back to bavk no down-time jumps, but it was safer to put some time between jumps. It was better for the engines and the computers and the life forms.


    Right now, life form maintenance was at the top of Captain Sybla''s list. Bathroom and food. Even in this game she needed the bathroom periodically. It was a trade off, she had to go to the bathroom a little more often than normal and got an additional boost to her trading skills. She was a woman irl, an extra bathroom trip in game was nothing noteworthy.


    Bathroom needs taken care of, she went to the ship''s galley. Her passenger, a Syke teenager named Meri was already there. She had her head buried in her data pad. Watching her eyes and hand movements she must have been playing a game.


    "I maded dinner," she said matter of factly without looking up. "My father ssssssent ussssss with Orion Sssssspiced Sssssshrimp.¡± She shrugged. ¡°It¡¯ssssss good.¡±


    Sybla frowned. Your father is hilarious. Send us the same shrimp I sold him. She pulled over the bowl of shrimp and dished herself some. It is good,  she thought as she tasted it. Between bites she asked Meri, ¡°So why Galveston?¡±


    Th girl shrugged. Her attention was on her game. She swayed this way and that as she dodged or shot or whatever she was doing. Sybla could now see it was some sort of space fighter game.


    ¡°You really don¡¯t know?¡±


    With some exaggerated aggravation, Meri stabbed a button on her tablet- the game paused. ¡°He ssssssaid I had to go to Galvessssston. Then he took my tablet and loaded the game I wanted¡­¡± She pointed at the paused game on the tablet, ¡°and ssssssaid get pack a bag.¡± Finished talking she stared at Sybla, the meaning was clear- anything else?


    Now it was making sense. Whatever ahd to get to Galveston was probably on the data pad. What kind of a parent would send his daughter on a spy mission? Was it a spy mission? Or courier job? Would I send my daughter on a mission? Maybe if she was the only one I trusted. But send her off with a stranger?


    ¡°I¡¯sssss going to my cabin,¡± Meri announced as she stood up. With a dramatic flourish she scooped up her tablet and left. Her dishes remained on the table.


    Sybla gave the girls back a quick scowl. A glance at the clock told her he had 8 minutes to eat and get back to the cockpit. She looked at the dishes.


    Was I ever that moody? she wondered.


    <h1 class="western"></h1>

 13. T-MINUS 28 TO RESTART

    <h1 class="western">T-MINUS 28 TO RESTART</h1>


    T-minus 28 minutes to game time. Angie was awake. Just barely awake. Her plan had been to stay up and keep things on task. With some effort, Janet had convinced her that half an hour of sleep would be more helpful than anything else she could do.


    Angie glanced at the clock in the dimly lit room. I don¡¯t have time to be sleepy. Angie was still upset that she had to play. She was the team president and chief engineer and her place was here, out of game and overseeing the work that needed to be done.


    Slowly she dragged herself off the cot. Mike and Heather were still sleeping, in separate cots, of course. Mike had crushed on every girl on the floor, in the building, at the university. Hell he had probably crushed on every woman ever born. As far as Angie knew, none of them had ever gone out with him, herself included.


    Mark wasn¡¯t in his cot. Where is he? Her poor abused heart skipped a beat as her fears and imagination went into overdrive. Did he quit and go home? Did I drive him away? She didn¡¯t run, but moved with some urgency as much as her sleepy body could. In a flash she was out of the sleeping room and into the engineering spaces. Through one of the glass walls she saw Mark talking to Billy Long Hair. She relaxed a bit.


    She relaxed more when she saw the board. Everything was checked off as done. Almost everything was marked as tested.


    She was going to ask about one of the items, but before she could, she heard one of the engineers, Dahlia, reporting to Janet. ¡°Neklix checks out.¡±


    Angie looked at a readout on a computer monitor. Janet marked the big board. As her eyes swept the displays again, Angie saw Dahlia place a soda cup on a control panel. She was going to say something, but Janet spoke up.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°All systems go, boss,¡± Janet said.


    After another look at the big board, Angie smiled. ¡°All systems go.¡± Her team was hitting on all cylinders. The final test simulation was starting now. It was the last automated test. In a few minutes they would know if they were in trouble.


    The contingency plan was to quick revert back to the old code. They were stuck with any hardware changes, but the only hardware changes were a few new jumpers soldered in place and¡­


    She saw the other new hardware being tested. For Mark¡¯s capsule they switched to speakers. Flanni had preferred earbuds. Flanni and his grunt team had jumped ship hours before the game started. It was his damn fault that Angie was going into the game instead of being in the control room monitoring everything. Damn Flanni.


    ¡°I never asked,¡± Janet began, ¡°what team did Flanni join?¡±


    Angie stared at her friend, can she read my mind? Did I say it out loud? Angie gave a small shrug. ¡°I didn¡¯t ask.¡± SA small frown. ¡°Now I¡¯m curious too.¡± She pulled out her smartphone. Janet interrupted her.


    ¡°I¡¯ll find out, you eat.¡±


    Momma Robin came after Angie. She had Mark in tow.


    ¡°We¡¯re coming,¡± Angie said cutting Momma Robin off. With a big smile Momma Robin lead the way back to the team room.


    ¡°What were you doing with Billy?¡±


    Mark gave her a wry smile. ¡°There¡¯s a whole lot I didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Like what?¡±


    ¡°How to change the notification settings so I can actually see. No more great big blocks if text in front of me when I need to be aiming.¡±


    ¡°Seeing is good,¡± Angie agreed.


    ¡°I learned how to chat and send messages. You know, all of the interface stuff you probably know inside and out.¡±


    Noob problems, she thought. Just noob problems. Please just be noob problems.

 14. Getting In The Pods

    <h1 class="western">GETTING IN THE PODS</h1>


    ¡°I hate to ask another dumb question...¡± Mark was standing in his pod, in his underwear. I need to get some fresh underwear. Especially if I¡¯m going to have people crawling all over my body.  Momma Robin bent down was attaching the electrodes to his legs.


    ¡°If you don¡¯t want to ask a stupid question, don¡¯t.¡± Momma Robin smiled. Mark looked a little stricken. The smile got bigger. ¡°What¡¯s your question?¡± He waited until she stood up. He didn¡¯t want to talk to her when she was eye to eye with his crotch.


    ¡°If we, uh, don¡¯t know how long we¡¯ll be in there¡­.¡± his voice trailed off.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± She prompted.


    ¡°What about food and the bathroom?¡±


    ¡°Oh. I¡¯ll explain it later.¡± She closed the capsule door and everything went black for Mark. It was a comfortable black.


    Those few seconds between being awake and being asleep. That place where you are warm and safe and slowly getting your bearings. That¡¯s what entering the Space Opera Game Universe always felt like to Angie. Peacefully transitioning into another reality.


    This time it was different. Lights flashing, alarms sounding along with a horrible roaring. The escape pod was shaking, she hoped that it wouldn¡¯t come apart. Behind her somebody swore. No, it wasn¡¯t just behind her, everybody was swearing.


    And somebody was in her seat, dammit. When they originally got into the lifeboat Mike had taken one seat and that XMAN235 from team MyndBendz had taken the other. Angie had been distracted by a gunfight while the guys got the escape pod ready. Now it would be bad form, and difficult, to yank XMAN235 out of the chair.


    Angie gave into the inevitable and strapped herself into one of the acceleration couches. She wanted to stand over the shoulders so she could see what was happening, but being strapped in seemed like a really good idea in a crash landing.


    She checked the public properties of XMAN. It didn¡¯t show Angie anything exciting or surprising. Like everybody else on any of the teams in the competition. He was a level 1 Private. He had his attributes and skills hidden. That was normal too. Angie made a mental note to ask her team to share attributes and skills within the team. They should know as much as they could about each other. Of course at this moment everybody had pretty much the same skills.


    Soon, she imagined, Mike and XMAN would have some piloting skill. You could learn skills by taking courses or ¡°instant updates¡± or by doing. Instant Updates were modules you could buy for an exorbitant amount of credits, but they gave you the skill immediately. Training courses took time, sometimes it was almost instant, like when you leveled up, and sometimes it took ALOT longer. You could also learn by doing. Sometimes there was a high mortality rate learning some things by doing. Learning to fly an escape pod by doing it might just be one of those fatal things.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    Angie looked around the pod. Heather was strapped in. Next to her was Southaven from teamI bet they had an interesting conversation during the programmed hold. I¡¯ll have to ask them. Half their team was missing or dead. How the hell do you let your team get split up on the ship?


    She saw Mark in the back of the capsule. He wasn¡¯t strapped in and every time the capsule shook, he bounced. Mostly it seemed like he was bouncing off of the dead TESTTESTQWERTY. TESTTESTQWERTY was from another different team. His team was dead. Or at least never left the ship. Poor bastards.


    She watched Mark slowly crawl to the nearest acceleration couch. Finally he made it to the white acceleration couch. Everything is white. Is that supposed to be comforting? White walls, white seats, light gray floor. It¡¯s more antiseptic than comforting.


    The roaring noise was horrible. Angie ported the view from Mike¡¯s helmet into her own visor. On another portion of her visor¡¯s HUD she connected to the ship¡¯s information readouts. Another part had a map open. Quickly, Angie closed the map. It wasn¡¯t adding any extra information and it made the ¡°Mike cam¡± and info readouts too small.


    There were no arms on her chair, couch, whatever. The seats were big, like they were expecting space marines in armour or crew in space suits to be in them. By not having arms on the seat, a bigger body could fit in the seat. Not having chair arms meant Angie couldn¡¯t clutch them. Instead she tightly clutched onto the captured TU¡¯COn laser rifle. She was very careful to keep way from the trigger. A stray shot in here would be a tragedy.


    The Pod jerked again. The developers wouldn¡¯t kill us in an escape pod. What kind of competition would that be? They¡¯ll wait until we land and then slaughter us. But, maybe they''ll kill off some stupid people.  She watched Mark finally get strapped in to his escape couch. Idiot. Thinking that the competition wouldn¡¯t kill her right now was a sure way to get killed. She turned her attention back to her HUD screens.


    ¡°I have no idea where we are going,¡± Mike reported.


    ¡°Down,¡± XMAN235 replied, ¡°we¡¯re going down.¡± Mike looked over at him and then back to the controls. Both of them were fighting with the control yokes.


    I wonder if there¡¯s an autopilot. She wanted to ask. It¡¯s better not to interrupt. As long as they¡¯re not the stupid people who are going to get killed off, it would be fine.


    The crash landing continued.

 15. Any One You Walk Away From

    <h1 class="western">ANY ONE YOU WALK AWAY FROM</h1>


    ¡°Any landing you walk away from is a good one,¡± Mike said cheerily.


    ¡°Bullshit,¡± XMAN235 replied. ¡°That one sucked.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m with XMAN on that,¡± Southaven chimed in.


    ¡°I think we more crashed than landed,¡± Heather added.


    ¡°But we survived,¡± Mark said. He was the last one out of the escape pod. TESTTESTQWERTY didn¡¯t count, he was dead. ¡°So, what now?¡±


    Angie was standing still. They could see her eyes through the transparent half visor that was attached to her helmet. Her eyes were slightly glassy, she was focused on something that only she could see.


    ¡°OK,¡± she said. Rather than say it, she sent the message she just received to the team. And to Southaven and XMAN235.


    Mark saw the notification appear in the corner of his HUD. Back in the lab, it took some trial and error and a lot of help from Billy Long Hair to get his HUD and settings where he wanted them. Making sure he could see in a firefight was job 1. Being able to see his personal stats, especially his energy and health, was job 2. Getting important notifications, important to him at least, was job 3. Being able to keep tabs on the rest of the team was job 4. Everything else was relegated to background noise.


    He clicked the notification.


    <blockquote class="western" style="margin-left: 0.49in">FLASH FLASH FLASH. </blockquote>


    <blockquote class="western" style="margin-left: 0.49in">INCOMING MESSAGE FROM SEA HARRIER.</blockquote>


    <blockquote class="western" style="margin-left: 0.49in">TO ALL TEAMS FROM THE Antonio Lopez ASSEMBLE AT FIREBASE ALPHA. REPEAT PICKUP POINT IS FIREBASE ALPHA AT COORDINATES 234-DOT-98-DOT16 BY 101-DOT-76. </blockquote>


    <blockquote class="western" style="margin-left: 0.49in">EVAC WILL BE PREFORMED FROM THAT LOCATION ONLY. </blockquote>


    <blockquote class="western" style="margin-left: 0.49in">BEWARE TU¡¯CON AND REBEL FORCES. THIS PLANET HAS AGGRESSIVE FAUNA. USE EXTREME CAUTION AND DO NOT HARM FRIENDLY CIVILIANS.</blockquote>


    <blockquote class="western" style="margin-left: 0.49in">SEA HARRIER OUT.</blockquote>


    <blockquote class="western" style="margin-left: 0.49in">BREAK BREAK BREAK.</blockquote>


    ¡°There we go.¡±


    Nobody went anywhere.


    Angie started giving orders. ¡°M&M, make sure we have everything useful out of the pod. Heather, you¡¯re our scout, plug in the coordinates and start scouting our way.¡±


    ¡°Uh,¡± Mike interrupted, ¡°who are M&M.¡±


    ¡°Mike and Mark,¡± Heather¡¯s ¡°duh¡± was implied.


    ¡°Uh, I don¡¯t think I like that.¡±


    ¡°I know I don¡¯t,¡± Mark agreed.


    Angie ignored them and turned to XMAN235 and Southaven. ¡°So what are you two doing?¡±


    XMAN235 spit on the ground. ¡°the other half of our team is with the DirtKnights. We¡¯re here. That idiot Kline got us separated. Our best hope is to rendezvous at the pickup point.¡±


    ¡°Can we travel with you?¡± Southaven asked.


    ¡°Sure,¡± Angie answered. It wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a few extra guns.


    M&M came out of the pod with some gear. An axe, a machette, survival kits for each of them and a few extra. The pod was meant to carry a dozen people. The guys were doling out survival kits when there was a scream. All eyes turned to the forest. Everybody had weapons aimed in that direction.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Mark, go¡± Angie ordered. ¡°XMAN?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll on it,¡± he replied. He and Mark rushed into the forest.


    ¡°Southaven, you get drag. Mike, come with me.¡± Angie and Mike started towards the forest, but their course would take them to the right side. If there was something there, they would open a second front.


    Mark and XMAN went through the forest as quickly and quietly as they could. Quick and quiet didn¡¯t necessarily go together, but they did their best. It was a short trot before they saw Heather. She was turning all around, pointing her weapon wherever she was looking. When she head them, she turned and aimed.


    ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa.¡±


    Heather saw who it was and lowered her rifle. She turned away from the men.


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°I heard a noise.¡±


    ¡°What kind of noise?¡± The men aimed in different directions. They had everything except the way they came from covered. They even scanned the trees.


    ¡°A noise,¡± she repeated. ¡°It scared me.¡±


    ¡°Was it mechanical?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°TU¡¯COns speaking?¡±


    ¡°No, just a noise.¡± At that moment, there was a creaking sound above them. All three of them aimed at the forest canopy. A breeze or something at the treetops was causing one of the trees to sway. A dead limb was dangling down and rubbing against another tree trunk.


    ¡°That noise,¡± Heather said.


    XMAN lowered his rifle and cursed. ¡°We¡¯re in a forest you know.¡±


    ¡°Duh,¡± she replied.


    ¡°And forests have trees and sometimes trees creak,¡± XMAN finished.


    Angie and Mike burst into the clearing from the side. It was the side that Mark was covering. He had received some sort of notification that friendlies were approaching. He didn¡¯t shoot. In fact, he had lowered his rifle.


    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Angie asked, confused.


    ¡°Your girl here is a horrible scout,¡± XMAN replied.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°A tree scared her.¡±


    Angie looked around at the trees. She scanned up to the tree tops. Nothing, not even birds. Just the annoying creaking of a limb. ¡°What do you mean a tree scared you?¡± She addressed the question directly to Heather.


    ¡°Look, I get scared easily.¡±


    ¡°Good traits for a scout,¡± XMAN¡¯s voice dripped with sarcasm.


    ¡°DO I have to be the scout?¡±


    ¡°No, no you don¡¯t have to be the scout.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll lead,¡± XMAN announced. ¡°Can we go now?¡±


    ¡°By all means,¡± Angie replied, ¡°by all means.¡± She turned to Mark, ¡°Can you walk point while he scouts?¡±


    ¡°Sure, why not?¡±


    ¡°Do you want the armour?¡± Heather asked. Mark looked puzzled. Heather continued, ¡°For some reason they gave me special scout armor. Do you want it?¡±


    Mark didn¡¯t know what to say. There was no way her armpur was going to fit him. She was six inches shorter and who knows how many pounds lighter than him. Her armour had bulges for her breasts. That would look stupid on me.


    Quick as could be, she was standing there in her gray fatigues and holding her armour out to him. He took it. Mark had to expand the notification box on his HUD. Maybe his setup wasn¡¯t the most convenient for some things, like this. The notifiaction window asked if he wanted to put on the G-7 Scout Armour. HE clicked yes and suddenly he was in Heather¡¯s armour Magically it fit him perfectly.


    She cleared her throat. He looked at her and realized what she wanted. She was standing there in her fatigues, in the middle of hostile country. He gave her his standard Star Marine armour. He watched as she donned it. It only took a heartbeat and she was in his old armour. It fit her like it was made for her. Mark shrugged, whatever.


    ¡°Uh, are you switching rifles too?¡± Mike asked. Mark looked over at her. Her rifle was smaller than his.


    She shook her head. ¡°I like the smaller one.¡±


    ¡°Fine with me,¡± Mark said.


    ¡°Move out,¡± Angie commanded.


    Mark took a deep breath and stepped out into the forest.

 16. Walking Point

    <h1 class="western">WALKING POINT</h1>


    Mark was waking point for the team. Somewhere out there XMAN23 was scouting ahead. Somwhere beyond him was the enemy. According to the abbreviated briefing, there were TU¡¯COns and rebels. There were also beasties with fangs and claws- hostile fauna, the briefing said.


    The job of the pointman was to go first, spot the enemy and traps and basically keep the team from walking into an ambush. Most of the time there wasn¡¯t a scout and Angie might not have been expecting XMAN23 to just launch out on his own. According to the dot of light moving on the map in the corner of Mark¡¯s visor, XMAN was a half-mile out. Mark was only 50 meters out from the rest of the team.


    Mark followed a familiar pattern. Walk forward as quietly as he could. With his eyes, sweep the area from left to right. Then look up and sweep back from right to left. Look at the ground ahead. Look back to the left. Repeat. Every few minutes stop and Listen. Start walking again.


    It was tiring. Mark had read about this method of walking point in a book or maybe from watching movies. There was no military in his past. Capture the flag at camp and playing games in the woods as a boy scout. Hopefully it would be enough.


    It was on one of his listening pauses he heard it. To the right. A cracking branch. He didn¡¯t want to ¡°do a Heather¡± and get everybody worked up because some rodent thing stepped on a branch or squirrel climbed a branch. Mark aimed his rifle as he looked. It was the feeling that something was there. He slowly took a few sideways steps back the way he came.


    There it was. Some kind of beastie. It¡¯s motted brown fur blended very well with the log it was next to. Please, God, don¡¯t let it be a log. Maybe it was a meter long. Maybe? What now?¡±


    He keyed his mic. ¡°Hold in place. I may have a fauna problem.¡± Fauna problem? What the hell am I saying?


    ¡°Roger scout, do you need support?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll let you know in a second.¡± He looked around at his feet. That¡¯ll do. He picked up a rock and heaved it at the beastie. If it was a log it wouldn¡¯t move.


    On the plus side, he was right and it was a beastie. On the down side he had pissed it off and now the thing was running towards him. This beastie was a meter and a half of sleek and deadly cat. Looking and acting like a panther it bounded towards him. It was only 40 feet away. The instinct to turn and run was incredibly strong. Mark fought the instinct with everything he had.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Slowly, deliberately he raised his G78 accelerator rifle. In his mind he could hear Gunny¡¯s southern accent whenever he thought G78 ACK-cell-er-ator rye-fffull. Just like Gunney said in the tutorial, he eased the trigger back. Three shots accelerated out of the end of his rifle. Another three followed immediately.


    The first round kicked up dirt between the big cat¡¯s legs. The second one clipped it in the jaw. The third round, and the three coming right after were dead on target. The 10mm projectiles carved up the beasties¡¯ head into a disgusting mess.


    Before the cat had fully crashed to a stop there were messages. First was over the unit intercom. ¡°Nice shot,¡± Angie said. Heather sent her ¡°way to go¡± through the team chat. Mike also chatted his message ¡°Not bad, but I coulda¡¯ done it in one shot.¡±


    Southaven simply said ¡°cool.¡± Mark didn¡¯t know he had been added to the unit intercom channel, but it made a lot of sense.


    ¡°What the hell is going on back there? Could you make any more noise?¡± XMAN235 asked over the intercom. The rifles weren¡¯t stealthy.


    Mark let out a breath he didn¡¯t know he was holding. ¡°Give me a minute and I¡¯ll be ready to go.¡±


    ¡°Wait there,¡± Angie instructed over the intercom, ¡°We¡¯ll be there in a second.¡±


    ¡°Roger,¡± Mark replied. He scanned the area. No other threats were apparent. He took a few seconds to check the notifications. The indicator was flashing, so there was probably something important.


    Congratulations, you have earned the Recon skill, level 1.


    That¡¯s a plus.


    The rest of the team arrived. Mike toed the dead cat. ¡±Uh, Did you search it?¡±


    ¡°Why the hell would I search a dead panther?


    Southaven nodded. ¡±Fewer arguments if we let a program do the dividing.¡±


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°

 17. Cache

    <h1 class="western">CACHE AS CACHE CAN</h1>


    Mark managed to guide them away from another big cat. The stream with the weird fish they were able to step over.


    Once, a sparkle of light caught his eye. He instantly froze. There was nothing there. Slowly he took a few steps towards it. There was nothing there. There was nobody and no besastie hiding close. Mark chose to ignore it and move on.


    Maybe it was a land mine, he told himself, probably nothing. But it bugged him. He had guided the team away from it, but still.


    The next time he saw a glint, he froze. There was nothing there except a couple of rocks. He walked around it at a distance. There was a whole lot of nothing out of the ordinary.


    Carefully he crept closer. The glint was gone, but his eyes had fixed on the rocks. Was it something in the rock?


    No. Something under the rock. He crouched down. With the muzzle of his rifle he moved the rock. A small depression and then a handle. Jackpot.


    The kilometers were melting away. The plot point on the map was only another 4.27 klicks. Another hour, maybe two. XMAN235 was ranging about a kick ahead of the main group.


    An hour ago she had suggested he rejoin. XMAN refused. Southaven said he was always like that. A real pain in the ass.


    Joining the entire team up before they explored Mark¡¯s find would have been preferable.


    She wanted a chance to talk more with Southaven. Heck, she wanted to talk with Mark too. Angie knew Mike and Heather. Mike was always willing to give his ¡°uh¡± advice. Heather was just, well, she was just Heather.


    She matched her pace to Southaven¡¯s. ¡±What happened with your team?¡±


    His team had been split up on board the Antonio Lopez in the chaos that led them to this planet.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Southaven didn¡¯t look at her as he andwered. ¡°the squad leader messed up. The moron thought we could take on the TU¡¯Cons. We killed a few, but when they counter attacked.¡± He paused and looked over at her. ¡±It was a mess.¡±


    Angie nodded. ¡±How did the team meeting go during the programmed hold?¡±


    Southaven laughed. ¡±It got tense


    They had reached Mark and his find. I¡¯ll follow up with Southaven later.


    Mike had already reached Mark. ¡°Uh, what do we have here?¡± He knelt down.


    I have to remind him this is my team, not his. If he blows himself up, I wont have to worry about it. She watched as he slowly, carefully, brushed dirt away. Soon he had cleared enough to find the edges of the lid. Mike narrated his thoughts ¡°15X15, too small for a person. I think. Now how do we open it...¡±


    Southaven marched right up to Mike. He looked at the door. He looked at Mike. To everybody¡¯s surprise and astonishment, he reached down, grabbed the handle and yanked. Mike jumped backwards. Nobody else really moved, flinching doesn¡¯t count.


    For a few seconds, nobody moved. ¡°Not how I wold have done it,¡± Heather said dryly.


    ¡°Its done now.¡± Southaven knelt down to look. The lid revealed a cache of stuff. He reached down into the cache.


    ¡°Wait, wait!¡± Mike was yelling. Everybody, including Southaven looked at him. ¡°You don¡¯t know if its booby trapped.¡±


    Southaven pulled out a box. Nothing exploded. ¡°That wasn¡¯t.¡± He started pulling more stuff out.


    Mike sat up. ¡°That¡¯s not how we do things.¡±


    Southaven flicked his head towards Angie. ¡°The boss didn¡¯t say no.¡±


    ¡°Uh, she should have.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡± Angie chimed in. She nodded at Southaven, ¡°What do we have?¡±


    Her thoughts strayed. Southaven gave me an opening, with Mike. Why didn¡¯t I take advantage? It would have been my chance to show Mike who¡¯s boss.

 18. Contact

    <h1 class="western">CONTACT</h1>


    "I hope there-s something for me," Heather said hopefully. Angie thought she looked like a school girl waiting for Santa.


    "I have something, uh, for you," Mike said softly.


    Angie glared at Mike. She was ready to snap and tear him a new one, but something in his look stopped her. He wasn''t acting like a pig or his normal condescending obnoxious self. This was different. Until I know what it means, ignore it, she thought, I hope I''m not setting feminism back a hundred years.


    The team was sorting through the stuff that Southaven pulled out of the cache that Mark found. There were a couple AK203s. These were old fashion gunpowder and bullet rifles. It was an evolution of the design the Russian made famous. Simple and reliable and cheap. A frontier planet couldn''t ask for more. Especially a rebel force that didn¡¯t have much money.


    Getting hit by one of those old fashion bullets could be devastating to flesh. It probably wouldn''t penetrate the armour. Probably. This is recruit armour, the weakest type and naturally made by the lowest bidder, Angie thought. How could that be anything but great?


    There were grenades in the cache too. Old fashion simple, pull the pin and throw grenades. Everybody except Mark had been checked out on grenades during the tutorial and thus had been issued several modern grenades. Mark didn''t have time to go through the tutorial and didn''t have grenades until now.


    Some of the grenades had red bands or white bands. It didn''t matter, Mark dropped a bunch of them into his bag. The best part of bags in the game was that you could drop lots of stuff in them. More than you could ever drop into a bag in real life.


    When Southaven pulled out a grenade launcher Heather grabbed it. "I can stand further away and drop exbombs on people? That''s me."


    The food that got pulled out was distributed all around. Most of it... Something Southaven pulled out smelled absolutely horrible. He threw it out into the forest immediately.


    "Contact!" XMAN235 reported over the radio.


    Everybody froze. Angie responded over the team intercom. "What is your contact XMAN?"Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    "I have eyes on TU''COns and humans. It looks like..."


    There was no video. XMAN must have shut off his video and his transmission was low power. This should have made him harder to detect. It also made it impossible for anyone else to see what was going on.


    "Dammitttttt¡­. I''m taking fire, I''m taking....UH " XMAN''s transmission ended.


    On the readouts, his frame went gray and his stats zeroed out. XMAN was dead.


    "Let''s go,"Angie commanded. "Best speed."


    "What about all this?" Mike asked, gesturing to the pile of stuff.


    Mark was already leading the way through the woods. Southaven wasn''t far behind.


    "Can you set a booby trap and catch up before we get there?"


    Mike smiled a cruel smile at Angie. "No problem."


    <h1 class="western">APPROACHING XMAN¡¯S BODY</h1>


    The klicks had melted away steadily. Finally, the whole team was arrayed on a hill. They¡¯re destination was 500 meters away. To get there, however, they had to do downhill, across a small valley and back up another hill. But that was where the XMAN235''S beacon was going off.


    XMAN had stupidly gotten kilometers out in front of the team and now they had to find his body and figure out what had happened to him. XMAN¡¯S beacon hadn''t moved in more than 30 minutes. That was when they got his last message, a warning that he had made contact with the enemy, or somebody.


    From the map, and what they could see, the woods ran all the way down this hill and back up the next. The map downloaded into the helmets wasn''t great, but it was better than nothing. According to the map, there was a tertiary road on the other side of XMAN''s hill.


    "Let''s get there. Mark you''ve gotten us this far."


    "I wanna be right up there," Southaven said. He belonged to XMAN''s team.


    Angie supposed that gave him the right to go find out what happened as soon as possible. She nodded agreement.


    "Heather you stay here and keep watch. Once we get up there, you close up. If we get into trouble, use that grenade launcher." Heather giggled and nodded enthusiastically. Angie turned to Mike. "You stay with her."


    Mike looked like he wanted to argue. She didn''t give him a chance.


    "Move out." She and Southaven stepped off. Mark was already gone. Behind her there was some grumbling. It doesn''t matter, I''m in charge.

 19. IN THE COMMAND CENTR: COLIN AND JASMINE

    <h1 class="western">COLIN AND JASMINE IN THE COMMAND CENTER</h1>


    "So all of the teams are facing the same mission?" Colin asked. He and Jessalyn were the reporters for the challenge. Colin had no idea why people would want to watch a LiveSteam of the game. Yeah, maybe the behind the scenes stuff was interesting, but¡­ he thought with satisfaction, they all get to see me.


    The question was directed to Jasmine Lens, project director for the Space Opera Challenge. This was her second year running the challenge. It kinda helped to have her bosses here, but at the same time she wished they would all go away. Just let me do my job! And who¡¯s brilliant idea was it to do interviews???? Colossally stupid!


    ¡°Yes and no,¡± she formally answered. ¡°While they all have the same scenario parameters, how they approach the scenario and how they interact with the world and people, both AI and human, can be very different."


    "How so?" Colin asked. He struck a pensive pose, leaning forward with his head tilted at just the right angle while his hand gently stroked his chin and he held a certain questioning look in his eye.


    It took Jasmine a moment to answer, she was too struck by the pose. Seriously? Do they take a special class on posing? Okay, beefcakes, today we are going to practice looking pensively. Tomorrow we will cover sadness¡­


    She shook her head ever so slightly to clear the image in her head. "Take team Bloop for example,¡± she said. ¡°They have two members of team MyndBendz with them,¡± there was a slight pause. ¡°Team Dirtknights has the rest of team MyndBendz and their own players."


    Colin was quick with his follow up. "That means?"Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "That means in this challenge, the teams control much of their destiny¡± she answered. ¡°Much like they control their own interface gear."


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I understand.¡±


    Beefcake without brains. How can he not understand. ¡°Let me break it down a little more,¡± she said out loud. ¡°Each team has the same parameters. That means that they all run across an enemy.¡± She paused. ¡°The specific enemy is different for each team. I can¡¯t have them all running into the same enemy.¡± She took a breath. ¡°That would pose problems if they all met Marina and all of them killed Marina.¡±


    ¡°Who¡¯s Marina?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the thing. Team Bloop might meet Marina, but team Death Knights might meet Juan.¡± She rubbed the side of her face, a nervous tick she had developed. ¡°All of the teams face a similar scenario, but the parameters are different.¡±


    ¡°So they all run into the same type of scenario and they all meet the same kind of people, or AIs, but the individuals are different?¡±


    Finally! She thought. ¡°That is correct.¡±


    ¡°But, the player, the human player,¡± Colin emphasized. ¡°XMAN235 from team MyndBendz who is with Team Bloop is dead. Does each team or group have a dead player?¡±


    No, not finally, she sighed internally. ¡°No,¡± she answered firmly, ¡°some players have been killed, most haven¡¯t. That¡¯s up to the players, that is not scenario specific.¡± God in Heaven above make this moron understand!


    "How do these scenarios test the VR control equipment?"


    Jasmine blinked at the abrupt change of topic. Before she could answer one of her techs came up to her. He leaned in from the side and whispered in her ear.


    Jasmine smiled at Colin, this interview is over. I have to remember to get Carlito a raise. She stood up and said ¡°Team Bloop is reaching phase point delta. I want to see how they deal with it.¡±


    She got up and walked over to the big screen monitor. Kline was standing there. He looked at her and rolled her eyes. He smiled and inclined his head. Colin was standing right next to her. I guess beefcake here is going to watch with me. She sighed.

 20. XMANS BODY

    <h1 class="western">XMAN¡¯S BODY</h1>


    Twenty meters away. XMAN''s body was twenty meters away. Angie, Mark and Southaven were laying prone. Weapons were ready. There was no movement. Nothing. Not even birds or insects.


    Is that because this is a game, Mark wondered, or is it a sign?


    Another minute of nothing happened. Text appeared on his HUD.


    Team chat message from Mike: all clear from here.


    Team chat message from Angie: Stand by.


    Angie looked left at Mark then right at Southaven. "Go," she said over the intercom.


    Mark sprinted 10 meters and took cover behind a tree. He looked in every direction, including up. "Clear" he reported.


    Angie sprinted 15 meters. She was 5 meters away from the body. When nothing happened she waved Southaven forward. He joined her.


    "Lots of footprints, let''s take this one slow."


    In sync they stood up and moved slowly, painfully slowly forward. After a few steps they stopped. Angie tried to read the ground. She tried to get a clue of what happened here. She didn¡¯t have a chance to find out.


    "What do we have here?" a woman said with a Coumbian accent. Angie and Southaven spun to face the speaker. The woman had an accent and an AK203. She held the weapon level with her hip. She didn''t need to aim carefully, she had several other people with her who were aiming their weapons.


    Angie started to move her accelerator rifle, get it in a firing position.


    "That is not such a good idea, deary." The woman with the Columbian accent said


    Ten meters away, Mark shifted his aim. The woman was in his sights. All he had to do was squeeze the trigger and she was toast. Of course there were a few problems. First, they were outnumbered and the firefight would escalate quickly. Mike and Heather probably didn¡¯t have a chance of helping. The second, and more pressing problems was the voice behind him.


    This voice was the voice of men¡¯s dreams. Soft, sultry, with an accent. The voice said ¡°That¡¯s not a good idea either.¡± The cold piece of metal that situated itself in his ear was definitely not the hot breath of a dream girl.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Bravado made him speak. ¡°Think I can get her before you pull the trigger?¡± Inside he was a shriveled mass of fear. This wasn¡¯t the first stressful situation he had ever been in. It wouldn¡¯t be the last. And this one was in a game. Why am I nervous?, he wondered.


    ¡°That bitch? You¡¯d be doing me a favor if you shot her.¡± There was a chuckle. She yelled across the clearing. ¡°Carmen, this guy thinks he can kill you before I kill him. Want to find out?¡±


    ¡°Should we find out?¡± Carmen asked Angie. ¡°He shoots me, Miranda shoots him and my friends shoot you and your friends.¡± Her smile was vicious. ¡°You wan¡¯ to find out?


    Angie ignored her question. ¡°Who are you? What do you want?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think you should be asking questions. I think you should answer them.¡± She stepped closer to Angie. Carmen was careless where she pointed her rifle. Her soldiers were careful. ¡°Who are you? What do you want?¡±


    Angie bit the inside of her lip.


    Team chat message from Mike: What the hell is going on?


    It was a message from Mike in the team chat. Angie had left her camera on. In the corner of a frame she could see the blinking light. Mike had accessed her camera and could see full well what the hell was going on.


    This can¡¯t get much worse. ¡°My man there was killed.¡± She nudged her rifle in the direction of XMAN¡¯s body. ¡°I want to know what happened to him.¡± She looked the woman, Carmen, in the face. ¡°Did you kill him?¡±


    Carmen looked at her, and then at the body. ¡°A Space Marine? Why should I kill a Space Marine? Like you?¡± Angie was confusd by the inflection on th last question. Was it a question? Statement? Amusement? Threat? Carmen held her rifle in one hand and held it so the muzzle was pointing at the sky. ¡°Are you here to kill TU¡¯COns or rebels?¡±


    Angie sent a note through the team chat.


    Team chat message from Angie: No Shooting!


    Southaven lowered his rifle. Mark slowly did the same. ¡°I¡¯m not here to kill anybody. I¡¯m trying to get my team out of here,¡± Angie answered Carmen.


    Carmen stared at her. After a few seconds, Angie continued. ¡°Our ship crashed. We need to get to the rally point for extraction.¡±


    When Mark lowered his rifle, the muzzle came out of his ear. He turned to face the woman. She was a chestnut haired beauty. She had the looks to go with the voice.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t have to kill you,¡± the woman said as she looked Mark up and down.  Her eyes lingered on his ass.  ¡°It would have been a shame to kill such a specimen.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t kill me too.¡± Stop being an idiot, he thought. He knew he had a stupid smile on his face. But that accent.....Stop being an idiot.

 21. SUGAR SPUN PROGRAMS

    <h1 class="western">Sugar Spun Programs</h1>


    The tension in the clearing was gone. Carmen and Angie were at a table talking over a map. It was an honest to goodness paper map. The discussion was cordial enough as Carmen talked about locations and enemy forces.


    For team Bloop, the elephant in the clearing was XMAN235¡¯s body. It was still laying on the ground. Mike and Southaven were examining XMAN. More accurately they were messing around with his helmet and armour. They talked softly to each other as they did this and that. They may as well have been working on a computer for all the effect XMAN¡¯ss corpse had on them. Of course, Mark thought, it¡¯s only a game.


    Heather sat down next to Mark. He was sitting with his back against a tree a few meter¡¯s away from XMAN. A few meters on the other side of XMAN, six of Carmen¡¯s men stood guard. More had vanished into the woods. How many soldiers does she have? Mark wondered.


    ¡°Be careful,¡± Heather said.


    ¡°Of what?¡± He looked around. He changed his grip on his weapon. Everything looked peaceful, but this was a game. There is supposed to be action.


    Heather smiled at him and shook her head. ¡°Nothing out there.¡± Her smile turned into a soft giggle. ¡°Well, there is lots of stuff out there that wants to kill us, but that¡¯s not what I mean.¡±


    She paused. Mark prompted her. ¡°What should I watch out for?¡±


    ¡°Sugar spun programs. A pretty face can hide an evil code.¡±


    A small part of Mark went cold. ¡°What?¡± Does she read minds?,


    ¡°You¡¯re new to the game, and you¡¯re Sarah¡¯s kinda dad, so just some advice. That pretty face we call Miranda is probably a AI NPC.¡± She saw the look on his face and took a guess what the look meant. ¡°An artificial intelligence non-player character. It¡¯s probably some programmer¡¯s vision of the perfect woman.¡± Heather gave a shrug. ¡°I¡¯m just surprised she doesn¡¯t have boobs the size of watermelons.¡±


    Mark looked at her. He had no idea what to say. The woman, Marina, was attractive. The kind of looks that made his knees weak. She was shorter than him by a few inches and sexy as could be. A hot snippit of code. Out loud, Mark spoke ¡°you said probably. She probably is a piece of code.¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Heather shrugged again. ¡°Sometimes they have real people, player characters play important parts in big scenarios like this. Even if Miranda is real, do you really think Guerrilla Barbie will have eyes for you? She probably sees a hundred players a day.¡±


    Mark had nothing to say. His brain was trying to process.


    ¡°Different strokes for different folks, and I¡¯m not gonna judge you, but you¡¯re my teammate and my friend¡¯s sorta dad and I kinda said I¡¯d keep an eye on you.¡± Heather made a show of checking her grenade launcher.


    Mark thought about it. ¡°How can you tell who is real?¡±


    Check the properties on gunman number 6 there.¡± She used her chin to indicate the last guard in line.


    The first line of her properties read:


    Bernardo. Guerrilla Fighter. Neutral


    After that came some stats and a health bar.


    ¡°If they give a status of your relationship, its an AI.¡±


    ¡°I see.¡±


    ¡°The problem is, if its more than a run of the mill low impact NPC, its tougher to tell. Check out Carmen.¡±


    The first line of her properties read:


    Carmen


    After that came some stats and a health bar.


    ¡°Just her name. No job, no relationship to me. Does that mean she¡¯s a player?¡±


    ¡°No, it means she could be either a player or a more sophisticated AI.¡±


    ¡°And how do I find out which?¡±


    ¡°Figuring it out is part of the fun and I don¡¯t want to ruin it for you.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± he said with more than a trace of sarcasm. He wanted to say more, but Heather looked away from him. Angie was walking towards them. Southaven and Mike joined them too. It was a full-on team meeting.


    After glancing around to see if any of Carmen¡¯s people were within earshot, Mike reported, ¡°Uh, we can get the chip. It looks a little damaged, and, uh, it¡¯ll take some work to get it to play.¡± Southaven had a grim smile.


    Angie nodded. ¡°Good news.¡± She took a deep breath. Now she had to tell them the deal she made with Carmen. Angie began to explain, ¡°here¡¯s the deal...¡±

 22. TUNNEL RAT

    <h1 class="western">TUNNEL RAT</h1>


    This deal sucks.  Mark crawled forward. The tunnel was not very big. He could fit through it and possibly, maybe, turn around. There was certainly no standing room and  trying to pass each other would have been foolish. Maybe they could. It would be like teenagers playing twister.


    There was also no way to wear armour down here. Mark just wore his fatigue shirt and pants. One hand had a flash light, the other a borrowed pistol. He had a knife in a sheath out of the way on his back. Also slung on his back he, naturally, he wore his pouch. His magic pouch that held lots of stuff, including his newfound grenades. No armour, but he kept his helmet. His lightweight scout helmet.


    He scowled and ruminated as he crawled. Mike would have fit. Southaven was a hard no, too big. And they¡¯re too busy!  He found the thought of Heather crawling through an enemy tunnel hilarious. No way on this planet. And the boss needs to be the boss, not stuck down here in this God-forsaken tunnel. In his head he mocked Angie¡¯s tone So you¡¯re the only really logical choice..


    The tunnel was dirt. It had been dug out, probably by hand. The floor and walls were rough. Wooden supports held the roof every so often, but the tunnel was sure not lined with wooden supports. What the hell is keeping it from caving in?


    The worn, compressed floor was slightly comforting. People had used it before and it hadn¡¯t caved in. At least as far as he knew it hadn¡¯t caved in. How the hell could he tell? The sound of crawling was the only noise. Thank God there is no creaking. The only good thing about this. I hate enclosed spaces. Like every other human on the planet.


    Does it have to be so f¡¯in dark? In the recess of his mind he knew it was a stupid question, it¡¯s a tunnel dug by hand, of course its not lit like the subway. They had left the entrance and the last light a long while ago. There was probably a way to tell how far he had crawled, but he didn¡¯t really want to know. He figured it would be more depressing if he thought they had gone for 10 klicks and found out they had only made it 200 meters.


    This really sucks. The only possible plus was that he was getting alone time with Miranda. Sexy Miranda with the chestnut hair and smoldering brown eyes. Maybe it was her accent. South American accent. English probably wasn''t her native language. In the real world I would never had made time with this hot a woman. Way out of my league. Well, Bethany¡­ He shook his head to clear any thought of Sarah¡¯s mom. He had promised himself a million times to forget that bitch ever existed. That¡¯s why I was going on vacation. Go somewhere sunny and warm where they didn¡¯t know what a loser I am. And now I¡¯m in a tunnel with a sexy woman.


    Unfortunately, Miranda was 10 feet behind him. They had no way to talk or even be side by side. Can I just flat out ask her if she is an AI NPC? Is that rude? Maybe I should ask if she¡¯s a player. Would that be better? Will she answer? Will she lie? Can the AI lie?


    The tunnel was getting darker up ahead. The flashlight didn¡¯t seem to be dying. Dead end? Startled he jumped forward- something had hit his foot. His mind took off- What the hell? What kind of monsters are tin this f¡¯in tunnel? Did it eat Miranda?


    Again, there was a tap on his foot- a tap. He took a deep breath and looked back. Miranda was right there. I hope she didn¡¯t see me jump. How could she not?


    ¡°Wait,¡± Miranda whispered. She took something out of her pocket. In the glow of light he could see paper. ¡°I have a map.¡±


    He said what he was thinking, ¡°you have a map? That woulda been nice to know.¡±


    He shined his light on it and got a look at the map. It was sort of a map. It was a line scrawled across the paper with a couple of notes. She tapped one of the notes, but he couldn¡¯t read it clearly.


    ¡°Carmen said there is a curtain up ahead and a room on the other side,¡± Miranda said.  He nodded. ¡°This is as far as she got.¡±


    Their faces were inches apart here in the glow from the flashlights. He could feel her hot breath. With her leaning over towards him, he could almost, not quite see down her shirt. Not that he looked. Much. Of course, it was dark.


    Focus on the map. They were on the big line. There was a small line drawn across the big line- some kind of blockage. He tried to read a scribble on the side- was that word curtain? That must be the curtain. The big line continued and there was a box after that. Then a small line and a small box. OK, the tunnel goes through some door or something and then to a room. There is a short passage and another room. But wait¡­The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    He asked the obvious thing ¡°X marks the spot?¡± There was an X in the side of the big room.


    ¡°I think so,¡± Miranda answered.


    Mark leaned back from the woman. ¡°It would have been nice to know you had a map.¡±


    ¡°Carmen slipped it to me. I didn¡¯t really look at it until now.¡± Her eyes fixed on his. ¡°I thought YOU knew where we were going.¡±


    ¡°Why would you think that?¡± He was puzzled.


    ¡°The way you charged down here and were moving so fast.¡±


    Gotcha. ¡°I hate tunnels. If I thought about it¡­.¡± He left out the part where he might run screaming like a little girl.


    Her nod said she knew what the next line was supposed to be. Her sudden, slightly cruel smile said she wasn¡¯t going to let it go. ¡°Don¡¯t worry big boy, I¡¯ll take care of you.¡±


    He turned away frowning. It¡¯s always good to be made fun of by hot women.


    The blockage in the tunnel was indeed a curtain. Several pieces of fabric hung as a curtain, anyway. Mark pulled back an edge of the curtain. Beyond, it was dark. A different kind of dark but still dark. A darker dark. His flashlight was off and he didn¡¯t want to just shine the flashlight until he had some idea of what was there. Anything could be there. He used the barrel of the pistol to move the curtain a little wider. Maybe the ceiling of the tunnel sloped up and made it taller?


    His eyes were adjusting to the dark with no flashlight. There were no sounds. Then suddenly there was a yelp behind him. Miranda lunged into him. He knew in his heart that something was after her, eating her. Probably. They had to escape. I have to protect her. The plan came easy to him.


    Move up against the wall, let her get past and escape and I¡¯ll shoot whatever the hell is after her. He flicked the pistol¡¯s safety off and lunged forward and to the side to let her get away and him turn around. He fully expected to crash into the wall of the tunnel on the other side of the tunnel. He fully expected there to be a floor to the tunnel on the other side of the curtain. There was neither.


    The fall must have only been a few awkward feet, but it felt like two minutes of paralyzed falling. He hit the floor, landing on his shoulder. Reflexively, his finger tightened on the trigger. BOOM- the noise of the shot echoed around the room. The flash was blinding. Miranda came toppling down on top of him. He managed not to shoot again. She did.


    </a>In the deafening echo and blinding flashes of the two shots, came a voice. In a loud whisper, somebody yelled, ¡°?que demonios?¡± Up ahead another curtain was thrown open. Light spilled out and silhouetted a man. The man¡¯s rifle had a flashlight attached. The beam swept over the tangle of Mark and Miranda. Miranda reacted first and fired her pistol at the man.


    She missed and the man pulled back while firing blindly at them. If he had aimed they would be dead. Although the tunnel had widened and gotten taller, there was nowhere to hide. In fact the passage was less a tunnel now and much more an underground hallway. There was no time to see if it was better supported. Miranda and Mark rolled apart from each other.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± They were quickly on their feet and charged down the tunnel hallway. Three or four meters down there was a curtain on the wall. I guess there are no doors down here.  When they got close, a burst of shots ripped through the curtain. These shots impacted the wall harmlessly.


    ¡°F-this.¡± Mark took a chance and dashed down the hall to the far side of the curtain. Now he and Miranda were on different sides of the opening. ¡°Keep his head down.¡± He reached into his magic pouch. All he had to do was know what he wanted out of his inventory and it would appear in his hands. In this case, he selected two grenades.


    Miranda hard what he said and didn¡¯t say much attention to what he was doing. She pointed her gun and moved the curtain slightly. She fired each shot deliberately, but none of them were aimed. It was a steady drumbeat of shots to keep the shooter supressed. As her clip ran out, she saw what Mark was doing. ¡°No!¡±


    It was too late. Mark had been standing there with a grenade in each hand. He had pulled the pins. Just before she yelled ¡°no¡± he had flicked the spoons away. The grenades were armed and the clock was ticking. He tossed one and then the other into the room and lunged back. Miranda ran three quick steps back down the hall away from the curtained doorway. She ducked and tried to cover her ears.


    BO-BOOM. The double grenade blast sounded like one stuttering explosion. The force of the explosion, and the noise, blasted the curtain away and knocked Mark down. He woozily got to his feet as quick as he could, but Miranda was already making her way into the room.


    When Mark got to the doorway he saw the problem. The room just wasn¡¯t that big. The blast must have echoed around the room and then into the tunnel hallway. Dirt and dust billowed through the room. The gunman was a pulpy mess. There was another body, but this one had been blown through a wall. A broken wall? What the hell? Another room?  Light was shining through the broken wall. It wasn¡¯t just a room on the other side of the wall. It was their destination.


    Miranda swept the room with her eyes, her pistol following. Did she reloaded and I missed it? I hope she did. Is she that fast?  The room wasn¡¯t that big and the sweep lasted four seconds, it would have been quicker if she didn¡¯t need to keep blinking dirt out of her eyes the whole time.


    Weapons ready, they stepped over the body and through the wall into the room beyond.

 22. AT THE CROSS

    <h1 class="western">AT THE CROSS</h1>


    Two sturdy wooden frames were driven into the ground. They were St. Andrew¡¯s Crosses- Giant X¡¯s. Strapped to one X was a human, arms and legs strapped spread out to the X. Next to him a TU¡¯COn was tied in place. Both were naked.


    Carmen had her back to them. She was cradling a double barrel shotgun. Off to the side, Angie stood there watching. Her rifle was sling over her shoulder. Southaven stood next to her. After Southaven and Mike had extracted the memory chip from XMAN¡¯s armour, he had come over to tell her. The chance hadn¡¯t presented itself yet, so he just stood with her. Thank God, she thought, I¡¯m glad he¡¯s here. She didn¡¯t need a man, she needed moral support. Heather would have done just fine. Just a friendly face in a sea of hostility.


    Surrounding the clearing, Carmen¡¯s troopers were milling about. Some of them watched what was happening. Others cleaned weapons or ate. A few of them stood guard close to the X¡¯s and prisoners. Nobody stood between Carmen and the prisoners or even next to them. Nearby was close enough.


    ¡°What has he done?¡± Carmen was answering the question Angie asked a few seconds ago. ¡°Asesino de beb¨¦. A heartless killer, hired and sent here to kill my people, and me.¡± She turned towards him and spat at the ground. She wasn¡¯t close enough to spit on him. Something she rectified as she walked closer. Abruptly, she veered to the TU¡¯COn.


    ¡°Another bastard that came here to kill me and my people.¡± This time when she spit, it landed on the TU¡¯COn.


    The TU¡¯COn snarled and cursed. Next to him, the human was trying to swear. The gag in his mouth kept him from saying anything intelligible.


    ¡°Are you going to execute them?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. Nothing so easy as a firing squad though.¡± She waved the shotgun. ¡°My friend here wants to chat with them. Sometimes I show mercy and load one barrel of my friend here with a slug. A solid piece of metal that can shoot a leg off.¡±


    She smiled as the men struggled. ¡°Sometimes I load it with bird shot. Tiny little shot. Even clothes can stop my tiny shot if I am too far away. But if I am too close? It hurts. It hurts bad.¡± Her smile was vicious. ¡°I don¡¯t want them to die too quick.¡±


    Carmen walked towards one of her soldiers. This soldier was eating a handful of small seeds. Then she held out the free hand. The soldier poured some of the seed into her hand. ¡°What to do, what to do?¡± She turned dramatically to Angie and Southhaven. ¡°Seeds. Do you think a shotgun blast of seeds would kill a TU¡¯COn?¡± Carmen was about 10 feet away from the TU¡¯COn.


    BOOM. One barrel of the shotgun fired. The TU¡¯COn yelled in pain. The part of his body that was blasted turned an ugly shade of red. Not much blood oozed out of him but the skin was a horrible color.


    She looked back to Angie. ¡°See, it doesn¡¯t kill him. But it hurts, oh it hurts.¡± She turns back to the TU¡¯COn. ¡°Does it not hurt, puta de guerra?¡± The TU¡¯COn was in agony. Carmen laughed.


    Her troopers smiled and laughed. Nobody had any sympathy for the TU¡¯COn. Even Angie wouldn¡¯t be upset with his death. Torture though? She kept her face neutral.


    ¡°Come,¡± Carmen said. Angie and Southaven stepped forward. They all approached the human that was strapped to the X next to the TU¡¯COn. ¡°Don¡¯t feel bad for this bastardo either.¡± Carmen tossed the shotgun to one of her soldiers, a woman. Carmen drew her knife. A big knife with a serrated edge on one side. It was an ugly looking blade- you never wanted to be on the wrong side of this knife. The human struggled. He knew he was on the wrong side of the knife.


    ¡°This bastardo wanted to catch and rape me.¡± She turned to the prisoner. He made noises. Denials? ¡°You even tried to rape Mearesa, didn¡¯t you.¡± He was silent now. She grabbed his chin to force him to look at her. ¡°Didn¡¯t you!¡±


    She forced him to look at one of the soldiers. A woman. The woman who was now holding the shotgun. They shared a smile. The same kind of smile a man hungry for bacon has when he looks at a pig.


    Southaven wasn¡¯t watching the women. He was looking at the man.


    [Do you see his tatoo?]


    Angie received his message through the team chat. This was one of the best uses for team chat. Secret communications invisible to NPCs and enemies and even other players who weren''t on your team. The trick was keeping your eyes from focusing exclusively on the message. People could see your eyes glaze and know something was up.


    Angie took two steps to the side of the prisoner, There it was. On his arm. It would have been readily visible if his arm wasn¡¯t tied up and out. Is that a unit tat?If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    [Recognize it?]


    [Yes, no, I¡¯m not sure.]


    Carmen was in front of the prisoner. Her knife trailed down his body. She used the flat edge of the blade so it didn¡¯t cut him. Based on his reaction and unsuccessful attempts to pull away, he knew what could come, what would happen if she turned the blade so the sharp edge, or even the point, made contact with his skin.


    The blade reached his pants. A deft move with the knife and his belt and pants were cut. A savage tug tore them away from his hips. The ruined pants hung up on his thighs, but his private parts were exposed.  He had shriveled up out of fear, but his penis was still there. She tapped it with the knife.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you excited to see Maresa again?¡± She left the knife on the base of his penis. She forcefully turned his head to look at Maresa again. ¡°She is only 19. Did you know that? She looks younger. Where you hoping she was a child?¡± Heshook his head no. He tried to say no.


    ¡°You wanted to rape a child.¡± He tried to turn his head. She didn¡¯t let him. ¡°Look away and I cut you. Swear to God, I will.¡±


    I can¡¯t believe I am watching this. Did he try to rape her? Was he looking for a child or a teenager to rape? What the hell does it matter? It¡¯s a program. It probably didn¡¯t happen. And its just code anyway. But the tat? What is it? What unit?


    ¡°Look at her breasts. Do you like them? They are firm and young.¡± She yanked his head so he was looking at her.  ¡°Mine are too, yes?¡± He grunted something unintelligible. She shoved his face. ¡°But hers are bigger.¡±


    Maresa laughed. ¡°And firmer.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s the truth. I hate it. It make me mad.¡± She tapped the knife against him. ¡°Don¡¯t flinch. I would hate to hurt you accidentally. I plan on hurting you purposely.¡± Carmen took a deep satisfaction at the fear in his eyes. ¡°If you look away¡­.¡± She looked at Angie. ¡°Can you hold this?¡±


    What the hell? Why not play along?¡± Angie nodded silently. ¡°I don¡¯t like rapists.¡± Angie took the knife from Carmen. She hovered it near him, but didn¡¯t make contact with his skin. Angie looked back at Maresa and Carmen.


    Carmen brushed some of Maresa¡¯s hair back. ¡°Did you see her striking eyes?¡± Her hand traced down Maresa¡¯s face. Maresa smiled contentedly and pressed her head into Carmen¡¯s hand like a cat pushes into somebody who is petting them. ¡°Even out here her complexion, God I would kill for her skin. I hate that I need such a beauty to carry a gun. But I need her to fight putas de guerra like you.¡±


    The soldier started to turn his head away. Angie moved the wicked knife up under his chin. He got the message and looked back at Carmen and Maresa.


    What the hell am I doing here? I just want to build stuff, not be in some programmer¡¯s torture lesbian fantasy!


    [keep going.] it was a message from Southhaven.


    Carmen spun Maresa around. She slapped her ass. ¡°Stunning, isn¡¯t it?¡± Maresa smiled over her shoulder. Maybe she was smiling at the soldier, maybe at Angie. I don¡¯t think she¡¯s smiling at Southhaven.


    ¡°She is a very sexy cat, isn¡¯t she?¡± Carmen walked back towards the prisoner. Instead of talking to him, she went to Angie. She put her hand on Angie¡¯s hand- the hand that was holding the knife. She just held her hand while they locked eyes. Then Carmen took the knife back and sheathed it. She led Angie away.


    After a second Carmen looked back at Southhaven. ¡°You should come too. The sexy cat has claws.¡±


    The shot gun boomed. The man screamed through his gag. It was a horrible sound. Angie refused to look. The shotgun blast was aimed at his groin. The horrified look on Southhaven¡¯s face told her all she need to know about what happened.


    ¡°Angie, Mission accomplished!¡± Mark¡¯s voice through the radio was a welcome interruption.


    ¡°Say again,¡± Angie responded. There was relief in her voice. She had something else to focus on. It was also an excuse to walk away from the screaming, crying man. She still refused to look and see what the damage actually was. Program, this is a game, that is an AI program. This is sick.


    ¡°The control room is secure. We can bring down the automated systems whenever you want.¡±


    ¡°Se supuso que usted nos dec¨ªa cuando usted est¨¢ en la posici¨®n, no s¨®lo atacan. Puta est¨²pida!¡± Carmen was yelling. Angie didn¡¯t know what she was saying, but it was easy enough to guess.


    She must have gotten the same message, Angie thought. Through the radio she said ¡°You were supposed to wait before taking out the control room.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, some stuff happened.¡±


    Carmen was yelling. ¡°Let¡¯s go. My Puta est¨²pida sister messed up.¡± Engines roaring, trucks drove up. There was no time for stealth. ¡°Fifteen minutes if we go top speed.¡±


    As they boarded the trucks, a thought struck Angie. I wonder what they¡¯re going to do with...¡±  She turned to look at the prisoners and got their answer. Maresa had just slashed the TU¡¯CON¡¯s throat. Blood dripped down the knife. Then she slashed the human prisoner. It wasn¡¯t his throat that got cut.


    Which is more terrible, the bloody knife or the grin on her face?


    Mike and Heather came running up to the truck. He didn¡¯t say anything, instead he texted.


    [we did it. We broke the encryption.]


    [I can play the video.] Heather.


    [Let me know what¡­] Angie responded


    [Let me see who killed XMAN.] Southhaven.


    [You¡¯ll be the first to know.]

 23. THE DEVILS INN: NESSI

    <h1 class="western">THE DEVIL¡¯S INN</h1>


    Every single colony and space station had a tavern or bar. It was the community center. Movies and books and videos showed these watering holes time after time. It probably wasn''t a law but Hollywood respected the convention and The Space Opera Universe did too.


    In a game, it gave players someplace to gather or talk with NPCs. From time immortal there were quests and information to be had at the local tavern.


    The Devil Center honored this tradition. At this moment, in fact, there were two gathering places, a festival outside the building where fans of the game could gather and cosplay and game and all of the other things that fans do. That gathering place would fade away in a few days.


    The other gathering place, a permanent gathering place, was the Devil''s Inn. It was a mega hospitality suite with food and drinks for players, staff and VIPs. If you needed to see a human who wasn''t on your team or a fan boy, the Devil''s Inn was for you. If you wanted to vent to somebody who understood you, the Devil''s Inn was for you.


    Right now, standing in the middle of the Devil''s Inn was a hot mess. That hot mess went by the name of Mata, short for Vanessa. Her hair wasn''t done, last night''s makeup was still on even though it was 4pm. Her black jeans were skin tight. The t-shirt she wore was too big for her. If you saw her on the college campus you would think she was doing a walk of shame from her most recent one night stand- and she took his t-shirt.


    Here in the development center it probably just meant she was working all night in one of the game labs. Almost everybody here in the Devil Center had been working all night.


    As she stood there, a guy, Gary, brought her a beer. She thanked him with a sexy smile that had gotten her out of speeding tickets. It was with considerable pride that Mata and her friends never ever had to pay for a drink when they were out.


    Mata had her own code she tried to live by. Part of the code said that she owed anybody who bought her a drink. That didn''t mean mean sex. Sometimes it was a smile and sometimes it was chatting for a few minutes. She would make sure she talked to Gary, but Bruce was talking now.


    "And that''s why team Frontier Traders got disqualified." Bruce was finishing the answer to Mata''s question. "I think they''re trying to keep it quiet."Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Wow, I can''t believe anybody would try that."


    "It''s something everyone things about, but nobody would ever do."


    "Until now," Mata concluded as she brought the beer bottle to her lips.


    "Until now," Bruce agreed.


    Mata looked at one if the many TVs in the room. "Do you work for that team?"


    The guys looked at the TV. Gary laughed. "No, that''s team Bloop. Stupid name."


    "For a stupid team," Billy agreed with Gary.


    "I though you had to be a super genius to enter this competition?" She turned the statement into a question. I don''t even need to twirl my hair, she thought.


    "Oh, Angie and Janet and Billy are plenty smart. They just, I mean..." Gary didn''t know how to explain it.


    Billy summed it up. "They''re just stupid."


    "How?"


    "Heh, they got played by PepMotion and now their team leader is playing instead of leading the engineers. Engineers design and build and repair. Players play." The guys all nodded their heads.


    Gary would not be outdone. "Look at what''s going on now. Instead of just getting to the pickup point, they''re doing a quest."


    "I thought quests were just part of the game," again Mata''s inflection made it a question.


    "In a regular game, yes." Bruce chimed in. "But this is a special scenario. They should just finish and move on to the next part of the competition. The hardware is the important part, not the gameplay."


    Gary dissented, "you need to play well to show off the gear." He turned to Mata, "they say the devs give teams extra points for gameplay."


    Mata nodded. "So what''s going on now?"


    "The Bloop have one guy and an NPC playing tunnel rat and blowing stuff up,¡± Gary explained.


    ¡°Stupidly blowing stuff up,¡± Billy added.


    ¡°And nearly getting himself killed. Stupid,¡± Gary concluded.


    Bruce tool his turn. "The rest have joined the rebels and are going to attack.¡±


    Mata turned from one to the other. Having guys ¡°fight¡± over her was nothing new. Geeks or jocks, guys are all the same.


    "The TU''COns are off fighting or patrolling somewhere-"


    "Same thing" interrupted Bruce.


    Gary ignored the interruption, "and the TU''COns left human mercenaries in charge of the base.


    "That''s interesting," Mata lied, "what are your teams doing?" She looked around. "Are they on a monitor?"


    Mata listened as Gary and then Bruce answered. It doesn¡¯t take much skill to keep them talking.

 24. LOOTING THE TUNNEL

    LOOTING THE TUNNEL


    Miranda grabbed a chair. Instead of sitting, she picked it up a few centimeters and slammed it backdown. Then she took a step closer to Mark. She was pissed. ¡°What was with the stupid grenade crap?¡± He didn¡¯t answer. ¡°You could have killed us!¡±


    ¡°I, I,¡± he stammered. ¡°It worked out. ¡°


    ¡°Did you see that mess in there?¡± She pointed back through the hole in the control room wall. ¡°That bloody disgusting mess that used to be a person? That could have been us! Praise Jesus the roof didn¡¯t collapse.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°What the hell kind of soldier are you?¡±


    He made some inarticulate sounds before finally managing to say ¡°not a great one.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s for sure.¡± She collapsed into the chair. ¡°You made the mess, you go check the bodies.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Why on earth...


    ¡°Loot, go get the loot. They have to have something, unless you blew it all up!¡±


    He did as he was told.


    There was more loose dirt on the floor than he would have liked to see. The ceiling hadn¡¯t caved in. Not really. Maybe a little. The walls had been supported at regular intervals by wooden planks. Many of them were broken now. Small amounts of dirt intermittently rained down, but at least the choking cloud of dust and dirt had settled.


    The bloody disgusting mess of a person had a few credits. His weapon was ruined. The woman who had been blown through the wall had some credits and a pistol. Mark took the pistol, holster and ammo. It turned out the small room had a bed and table crammed into the corner. He supposed they lived in the room. Maybe just when they were on duty. Nothing great was stored there, some papers and a small notebook, food and ammo. He dumped most of it into his magic pouch. He kept some of the food out, specifically, two chocolate bars.


    He went back into the control room. That¡¯s what they were calling it. The best part is a real walls and a real ceiling. He wasn¡¯t worried about it collapsing on him. Maybe a little worried now that he had damaged a wall with his grenade attack.


    There had been three people here in the control room. Two of them were dead now, the third, a woman, was cowering in the corner. The live woman had shown him how to deactivate the automatic perimeter defenses. The woman had been reluctant, but decided she would rather cooperate with Mark than deal with Miranda and her wicked knife.


    At first the woman had refused to help, that changed after Miranda drew the knife and stormed over to one of the guys lying on the ground. The guy had probably been dead. Probably. Still the woman freaked out. Mark himself didn¡¯t know how to react as he watched Miranda cut him from neck to¡­ from the neck down. Revulsion, horror, he didn¡¯t know which one to choose.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    The third guy was moaning from his gunshot wound when Miranda turned to him, bloody knife in hand. The woman had started to cooperate when Miranda threatened to first kill him and then skin her. That guy had since died of natural causes. As natural as could be after being shot by Mark and Miranda when they first came through the hole in the wall. If that guy hadn¡¯t been brave and tried to reach for a button, he would be alive. The woman had cowered in the corner and she was alive.


    Mark lheld one of the chocolate bars out to the scowling Miranda. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said.


    She lightened up just a bit as she stood and snatched the bar out of his hand. ¡°Be more careful next time.¡±


    ¡°What was it?¡± He was curious, so why not ask. There might be more danger out there


    She tilted her head as she took a bite of chocolate. She didn¡¯t understand the question.


    ¡°The thing that was after you in the tunnel. You screamed and jumped into me before we fell.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± She said through a mouth full of chocolate. She swallowed, looked away and mumbled something.


    ¡°What?¡± He was sounding a bit more aggressive than his apology before.


    ¡°Spider,¡± she said sheepishly.


    ¡°What?¡± Are you kidding me?


    ¡°A spider or something was on the back of my neck. I hate spiders. My abuela was bitten by a green poison...¡±


    ¡°You screamed and we ended up falling and getting into a gunfight because of a spider?¡±


    She whirled to face him. They were a meter apart. ¡°You shot first!¡±


    He stepped closer to her. ¡°You shot second and they shot third. So what? You nearly got us killed because of a spider?¡±


    She was defensive. ¡°My abuela nearly died from a green poison spider bite.¡± Miranda¡¯s tone changed slightly. Changed entirely. It was softer, much softer. ¡°And you nearly killed us with the explosion.¡±


    They were inches apart. He could feel her breath. He could see something in her eyes. Her breasts were just touching his chest. Thank God no armour. Kiss her, no don¡¯t kiss her. He argued with himself. Do something! He yelled at himself. He started to lean forward. She didn¡¯t pull away. Millimeter by millimeter he came closer.


    ¡°We¡¯re coming to your position!¡± The voice in his ear abruptly announced. Based on the look on her face, Miranda must have gotten a message too. If the mood was broken by Angie¡¯s voice, the gunshot down the outside hall surely was the coup de gras.


    She still looked in his eyes. He could get used to those smoking hot eyes. Then those smoking hot eyes looked up at the top of his head. ¡°Does that thing have night vision?¡±


    ¡°What thing?¡± he said warily, turning to look up behind him. She hit him lightly. ¡°No stupid. The helmet. Doesn¡¯t it have night vision?¡±


    He reached up and touched the helmet. Night vision? Would I need a visor or would it just brighten up the HUD? There was a visor like thing. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°idiota est¨²pido.¡± Her voice was lilting in the cadence of her sexy South American Spanish accent. Very sexy. But no chance of anything now you stupid idiot.


    She turned away from him. ¡°Si,¡± she said, responding to something he couldn¡¯t hear. She was wearing an earpiece. ¡°They¡¯re coming in,¡± Miranda said to him, ¡°don¡¯t shoot...¡± she smiled at him, ¡°or throw any grenades.¡±


    ¡°Maybe we shouldn¡¯t mention that falling in the tunnel and shooting the walls.


    She shrugged. ¡°They¡¯re going to see it eventually, everything is being recorded and streamed for this challenge.¡±


    Oh my God! Does that mean she is a real player?


    ¡°But lets do as you say, yes? Maybe we get lucky, and nobody sees.¡±

 25. TROTTING POINT

    <h1 class="western">TROTTING POINT</h1>


    Maresa was walking point for the team. Trotting point was a more fitting description. The dark haired woman was moving fast. Southaven and another one of Carmen¡¯s soldiers, another woman, were right behind her.


    Further behind came Carmen and Angie. The rest of the team, both Angie¡¯s team and Carmen¡¯s troopers followed behind.


    Too fast. Angie wasn¡¯t comfortable. If she were the one in charge she would have had the team moving slower. Yes, there was a hurry. The TU¡¯Con patrols could return at any time. Especially if a distress call had gone out. The last thing she wanted was to face a horde of angry Tu¡¯COns. Her level 1 team would be toasted in a heartbeat. We got out of the Antonio Lopez, we could get out of this. But she knew they faced low level Tu¡¯cons on the ship. These would probably not be mobs designed to teach players the rules of the game.


    How much can I trust Carmen? They were at XMAN¡¯s body before we were. What if¡­


    As if on cue, Mike called her on the intercom. ¡°Uh, Angie? The woman running point, not Maresa, the other one...¡±


    A door opened and a human stepped out. He was wearing a black uniform and carrying a short-barreled accelerator. An instant check of properties said he was a mercenary. It was a quick draw test. Everybody, including the merc had weapons. The question who could fire first. As everybody reacted, players and NPCs alike, stats and skills came into play. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The merc won- he was fastest to fire. The burst he fired slammed into one of the point women. Carmen¡¯s soldier was flung backwards, blood spurting from her chest. Reflexively she pulled the trigger as she died. The bullets fired from her flailing weapon manage to miss everybody, except Southaven.


    The wound was minor, -6 hp. Southaven and Maresa leveled their weapons and fired at the same time. The sound of Southaven¡¯s accelerator rifle was lost in the boom from Maresa¡¯s shotgun. At point blank range, the merc had no chance at all.


    Through the open door there was yelling, then shooting. Carmen¡¯s soldiers, and Angie¡¯s squad flattened themselves against the wall. Shots, a whole lot of shots, came through the open doorway. Heather. saw her chance. She stepped away from the wall and aimed the grenade launcher.


    If she misses and it bounces around out here, we¡¯re all dead, Angie thought. The walls will channel the blast up and down the hallway. She figured the walls wouldn¡¯t just blow out. If this was a tunnel¡­ she smiled. Nobody would be that stupid.


    Heather, a private with no skills pulled the trigger. Somewhere deep in a computer, a random number spun out. The grenade flew through the air------- and into the room. It exploded. It worked out for Heather just the way it was supposed to.


    One of Carmen¡¯s people dashed into the room as soon as the blast ended. He was firing full auot as he went thrugh the door.  Seconds later, the shooting stopped.


    ¡°Clear,¡± the guy yelled out.


    ¡°Go!¡± Carmen ordered. Maresa took off down the hall again. Southaven was a second behind her. Everybody started to move again. Angie stopped at the dead body. She knelt down and took the short-barreled accelerator rifle. He had several pouches on his gear belt. One was the universal ¡°personal items¡± pouch, she smiled as she thought about Mark calling them ¡°magic pouches¡±. She didn¡¯t bother to look through it. She took the pouch and dropped it into her own ¡°magic pouch.¡±


    She started to run as she slung the short-barreled rifle.

 26. FIREBASE ALPHA- FLANNI

    <h1 class="western">FIREBASE ALPHA: FLANNI</h1>


    Private First Class Flannigan was pissed. Flanni, as everyone knew him, was bored. When his team was offered the chance to go with some rebels and attack a TU''COn installation he refused with a laugh. The mission was supposed to come first. The mission. Not a stupid quest.


    The game plan that Flanni and Team PepMotion president Zzz came up with for this stage of the competition was to get through the scenario as quickly as possible with no casualties.


    Now that he and his three squad mates had finished the mission there was nothing to do. As soon as they arrive the restocked ammo. Easy peasy.


    Next off to the medics. Jenfle had a minor wound treated. She was fine, just a flesh wound, -2hp. Still, being at full health was important. Jenfle healed, it was skills time.


    Based on what they did and how many XP each player received, their were promotions and leveling up and skills.


    In the military branches, promotions were levels. There were no level 27 soldiers.  There were Staff Sargent second class or even 4<sup>th</sup> Lieutenant . After buck sergeant, all of the ranks had additional "classes" to them. Most people just said level, like Staff Sergeant Level 2.


    Civilians got levels, like Scout Level 3 or Technician Level 87. Dual classes were allowed, you could be a Private First Class and an Explorer Level 2. Flanni had once run across some jackwiz who was first level in a dozen classes. The guy explained he had a hard time with commitment. Flanni made a joke about never getting married. The guy didn¡¯t find it funny.


    After promotions or levels or whatever the hell they were called, came skill upgrades. Skills were things you could do and how well you could do them. A Technician Level 87 was useless if he didn¡¯t have any repair or maintenance or even operational skills.


    Sometimes you got skills by doing stuff. If you shot people, or TU''COns or giant man eating cats, your rifleman skill might go up. Perform first aid and you might get medic skill.


    After a promotion, you were given a free skill of your choice. Some restrictions apply.


    If you had gobs of money you could sometimes buy a particular skill, but that wasn''t allowed for these contestants.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    You could also go to school. If you went to a skill school it only cost a little bit of money, but a whole lot of time.


    Time was what Flanni had, but not that much time and there were no schools here. Flanni just had time be bored and pissed. Other teams were out there playing. Out there gathering experience and skills and getting loot.


    How did that idiot DeBark from team Mountain Punks, or Mountain Men, or whatever become a marksman now? That shlub Lizzytastic from Team Poweder Puff G¡¯s was a sergeant? This is all wrong! As a squad leader, so Flann started as a Private First Class, but still, you needed good experience to get the promo to Lance Corporal or even Sergeant.


    Flanni kicked a rock and sent it skittering. Their rush through the scenario had gotten. Him a promo to Lance Corporal, rifleman level 2, marksman level 1 and recon level 1. With the promotion he increased Marksman to level 2. Not for the first time he wished he could play his old character. GengiCan would kick ass. Marksman level 48, energy weapons 62. Not much point in pissing about it. At least I¡¯m getting paid to start a new character for this.


    Naturally his old team had all made new characters. Jenfle used to have a kick ass hot shot piloting and space combat character. No, after flying the shuttle, she got piloting level 2. With here promo to Private First Class, she chose Medic 1. I thought sure she would take heavy weapons. It¡¯s just wrong to see her with a medic armband and a carbine instead of a heavy laser. At least if we ever need a medic...


    The last two members of the team got Rifleman 1. Just Rifleman 1. Military branches players normally started with Rifleman 1 after basic training. There just weren¡¯t enough baddies to shoot, not enough challenges to get skills from. Running point, Flanni had zapped the baddies and solved the problems. Now his team was pissed at the lack of XP,a dn levels and skills. Now they were just getting drunk.


    Soon Flanni would have to intervene. If they got called on a mission, he couldn''t have drunk teammates. What skills they had to be degraded. It would feel like their thoughts were slow and fuzzy. Bad effects in combat.


    None of the "officers" on base would tell any of the players what was going on. They kept saying "orders will be forthcoming." Dozeman, commander of Team Too Cool learned that raising your voice to one of the officers was a great way to lose a stripe. If you kept yelling you got to visit the guardhouse. Everybody learned the lesson as NPC MPs dragged Dozeman away.


    He walked towards the NCO club where his soldiers were drinking. It was time for them to stop. Or time for him to start. Lance Corporal Flannigan was pissed.

 27. FAMILY REUNION AND FIGHTING IN THE WAREHOUSE

    <h1 class="western">FAMILY REUNION</h1>


    Mark and Marina were taking cover as best they could. There wasn¡¯t really anything to hide behind in this room. Mark was in the hole in the wall, Marina was kneeling behind a chair that was against the wall near the door. They relaxed and lowered their weapons slightly wen radio a transmission came in. Seconds later there was a yell outside the door.


    ¡°Where are you?¡± It was Carmen.


    ¡°Aqui,¡± Maresa said.


    Carmen walked in followed by Angie. Through the door they could see people running past. The rest of the attack squad was moving on.


    ¡°Perra est¨²pida,¡± Carmen said immediately. ¡°I told you to wait and tell us when you were ready---- BEFORE we attack.¡±


    ¡°We didn¡¯t have a choice,¡± Marina answered. She wasn¡¯t cowering before her sister. ¡°Maybe next time you should do this.¡±


    ¡°Maybe I will¡­¡± her voice trailed off. She saw the woman cowering in the corner. ¡°Who is that?¡± Carmen aimed her shotgun at the woman.


    So far Angie and Mark had been left out of the discussion. Neither saw any reason to change that now. Marina answered, ¡°A mercenary tech. She showed us where the switches were.¡±


    Carmen walked closer to the woman. The shotgun barrels did not waver from their target. ¡°You trusted her?¡±


    ¡°You made it here. Looks like we made the right choice.¡±


    She turned her head towards Mark. The shotgun stayed aimed at the woman. ¡°You agreed with this thinking?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Mark answered.


    ¡°Then you are as stupid as she is.¡±


    That¡¯s enough. ¡°Can we continue this later?¡± Angie asked, ¡°no matter what, the TU¡¯Cons are coming.¡± Probably coming. Especially if they let that woman send a distress call as she disarmed the robotic perimeter defenses. Stupid!


    Carmen turned her glare away from Mark and to Marina. Without looking, Carmen pointed the shotgun at the woman in the corner. The boom of the shotgun was shockingly loud in the room. The second blast wasn¡¯t any quieter. ¡°We¡¯ll finish the discussion later.¡±


    <h1 class="western">WAREHOUSE</h1>


    ¡°Grenade?¡± Heather asked.


    ¡°No! We can¡¯t risk damaging the case,¡± Angie answered. Get lucky launching a grenade once and she wants to do it everytime.


    They were in a warehouse, a big warehouse full of crates and racks and boxes and everything a supply base would be expected to have. The Logistics Officer had decided to keep his office in here. The blue case, the cause of this raid, was sitting on his desk as plain as day. The case was roughly a half-meter by a half-meter, carrying it would be no problem. The problem was the three mercenaries and four TU¡¯COns who didn¡¯t want to surrender.


    Carmen counted ¡°uno, dos, tres.¡± One of her soldiers leaned out from behind a shipping crate. One of the TU¡¯COns exposed himself and started firing. Two heartbeats later Maresa popped out from behind a different crate. The TU¡¯COn shots were deadly accurate and Carmen¡¯s soldier died. Maresa¡¯s were also deadly accurate. The TU¡¯COn died too.


    Maresa looked for her next target, but nobody else popped out. Maresa held her spot, she had the advantage now.


    Crates were stacked high along the walls, a perfect place for Southaven and Mike to provide overwatch. They inching along the tops getting into a better position. Meanwhile, Angie, Heather and Mark were down on the ground level with everybody else. ¡°Cover fire in five seconds,¡± Angie ordered.


    Mark was next to Miranda. He leaned over and whispered to her. At the count of five, Angie popped up. She fired short controlled bursts into the shipping crates that the TU¡¯Ons were hiding behind. Mark popped up and joined her in shooting, but he was firing on auto. After a few seconds, Mark nudged Miranda with his foot. Angie and Mark ducked down to reload. Heather and Miranda popped up and opened fire.


    Maresa was a silent spider waiting to pounce. Her opportunity came when one of the defenders popped up. The merc probably thought he would be fine trying a shot from fifteen meters to the side of where Miranda and Heather were shooting. The merc was wrong. Maresa calmly put a shot between his eyes. Her shotgun was slung across her back. A plain old slug thrower hunting rifle was in her hands. Maresa was a deadly hunter.


    For two more cycles, the cover fire continued. It gave Mike and Southaven a chance to scramble faster. They were quickly in position over the enemy. Angie switched to a view from Mike¡¯s camera. The enemy was in two groups, TU¡¯COns on the left and Mercs on the right. Mike and Southaven were above the TU¡¯Ons. Angie nudged Carmen. She pointed to the mercs on the right. ¡°Three mercs behind those crates. Get ready.¡± Next angie leaned to Heather and gave her orders.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Seconds later, Angie yelled, both out loud, and through the intercom, ¡°NOW NOW NOW.¡± Many things happened at once.


    Oriented to the mercs on the right, Mark charged. Marina was right next to him. Angie and Maresa were waiting for somebody to popup. Heather fired her grenade launcher. The grenade arced up and then down behind the crates. There was yelling from the mercs as a grenade landed in their midst. The grenade didn¡¯t explode, it wouldn¡¯t ever explode. Practice rounds have no explosives or gas or anything, they¡¯re just a hunk of metal. The mercs didn¡¯t take the time to look and they ran. One stood upright as he ran. The game computer gave Angie and Maresa shared credit for the kill.


    Mark and Marina reached the barrier and aimed over the top. They had a bead on the two remaining mercenaries. Both fired. The game system gave Marina credit for both kills, but generously gave assists to Mark. Most of his shots unintentionally sprayed the office that the mercs had been running towards.


    Marina looked at him. ¡°You¡¯re a lousy shot.¡±


    While the main assault was against the mercs, Southaven and Mike were in action against the TU¡¯Ons. Mike dropped three concussion grenades. He didn¡¯t want to use shrapnel grenades that could damage the precious box, or his teammates. After the explosions, Southaven leaned over, rifle ready. He calmly started to shoot each of the TU¡¯Ons. From the concussions, all of he TU¡¯Ons were flat on their backs. Putting rounds into their prone bodies was better safe than sorry in action. Before he could shoot the third TU¡¯On, it stirred. It tried to raise its laser rifle, but it was too injured, too slow. It died as Southaven punched it with round after round. He only stopped when the TU¡¯On fell back down. Southaven then went back and put extra shots into the other two, presumably dead, TU¡¯Ons.


    As the echo from Southaven¡¯s shots echoed into silence, there was a collective sigh of relief. Carmen sent two of her people to check the TU¡¯COns. They confirmed they were dead.


    ¡°You can loot the bodies,¡± Carmen said absently as she and Maresa walked towards the office. Carmen¡¯s soldiers stayed where they were, at their firing positions behind the crates or from behind the TU¡¯COn barrier.


    At a command from Angie, Heather started checking the bodies for money and items. Angie and Mark and even Marina walked towards the office. Their weapons weren¡¯t at the ready. In fact in the peace of the moment, Angie took the time to check something Mike had sent her.


    [Message from Mike: XMAN¡¯s killer]


    [Photo attached]


    Angie took a deep sudden breath.


    ¡°What is it?¡± Mark asked.


    ¡°Maresa,¡± Angie breathed.


    Maresa and then Carmen looked back. Carmen seemed mildly annoyed that Angie and Mark were standing right there and not looting bodies.


    There wasn¡¯t a bad connotation to the word ¡°loot.¡± Items and credits from dead mobs was expected. It didn¡¯t matter if the mobs were TU¡¯COns, NPC mercenaries, giant cats or man eating lobsters, if you killed it there was almost an obligation to check the body for stuff. It wasn¡¯t like stealing things from dead bodies in a 20<sup>th</sup> century war.


    Angie spoke up. ¡°We need to talk.¡± She was staring at Maresa.


    Carmen practically growled. Maresa looked at her quizzically.


    Angie fixed Maresa with a glare. ¡°You killed XMAN.¡±


    ¡°You,¡± Carmen answered for Marena, ¡°you killed your XMAN. You invaded our planet. You came to my home with guns. To kill me? Perra est¨²pida.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re just trying to get to the base and get off this rock,¡± Angie responded.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care,¡± she said with a shake of her head. ¡°You helped me get into here, and gracias.¡± Her feral smile crossed her face. ¡°But I don¡¯t share and I do not like you.¡±


    ¡°Carmen!¡± Marina objected.


    ¡°And you mi hermana puta,¡± Carmen was full of venom. ¡°You betrayed the family when you went to the capital and came back as one of the asesinos de beb¨¦s.¡± She spit at her sister¡¯s feet. ¡°Traidor!¡±


    Up above, out of sight and out of mind, Southaven and Mike lay in wait. Earlier, Southaven had started to move. He wanted to go down and join the rest of the group. Mike had reached out and touched him. Southaven stopped and looked. Mike used an instant message chat.


    [Message from Mike: Let¡¯s just wait a minute and see what happens.]


    Southaven nodded and knelt back down.


    Now they were waiting as the scene below got tenser.


    Angie took a quick glance around the room. Mark and Heather had a death grip on their rifles, they weren¡¯t aiming, but they were ready. Miranda was standing there in shock. Carmen was full of hate. Angie had no idea when Maresa had unslung her shotgun, but there it was, ready to deal death. Most disturbingly, Carmen¡¯s soldiers had their weapons ready, and all of them were behind cover.


    Looting the bodies was a trap. Get us out in the open away from cover. DAMMIT! I am going to lose this competition because we got suckered? We should have just finished the mission and f-this quest. DAMNITTTT!


    ¡°I¡¯m still curious,¡± Mark said. Eyes turned towards him.


    ¡°About what?¡± Angie snarled. It¡¯s pretty damn obvious we¡¯re screwed.


    Mark pointed his rifle at Carmen. Slowly, as he raised the stock to his shoulder, the muzzle remained pointed at Carmen. ¡°I¡¯m curious if I can kill you,¡± he was addressing Carmen, ¡°before Marsea can kill her.¡±


    </a>Maresa smiled and aimed her shotgun. ¡°Los matar¨¦ a los dos antes de apretar el gatillo.¡±


    Mark and Maresa locked eyes. It was an old fashion stand-off. Each was hyper aware and ready to pull the trigger at the slightest provocation.


    And three years of work is riding on the absolute worst shot in the whole damn universe. It¡¯s not fair! What can I do? Angie found some words. ¡°Everybody relax, we¡¯re all friends here.¡±


    Carmen¡¯s answer was sharp. ¡°We¡¯re not friends.¡±


    There was a shout from the other end of the warehouse. There were laser blasts. A scream.  From above, Southaven and Mike started shooting. Everybody was shooting everywhere. It was chaos. Maresa and Mark both pulled their triggers.


    Mark and Angie were knocked backwards by Maresa¡¯s shotgun blast.


    Shots and explosions and yelling and screaming continued as chaos reigned.

 28. THE DEVIL鈥橲 INN: TAVERN SLUT

    Mata had her audience spellbound. Her audience was small, a cozy group of three engineers. Bruce and Gary had been there for a while. Pepe had joined them in the last half-hour. They were all standing in the Devil¡¯s Inn. The inn was a comfortable combination of tavern and dining hall. The dining hall section was always slinging up food and people could go as a team and whatever.


    The tavern side was different, generally quieter. There were monitors everywhere so people could keep up with the game. Even when on their breaks or off duty, everybody kept an eye on the game.


    Mata was a beautiful hot mess in her painted on jeans, heels and an oversized t-shirt. She kept the guys talking. They even tried to one up each other as they told her about their teams and everything else she asked about, everything. She smiled and gave a gentle touch here and there. Small flirty encouragements to keep talking. She hadn¡¯t asked any tough questions, no deep secrets requested, yet.


    Slut, Mata thought. The slut who caught her eye had just walked into the Devil¡¯s Inn. One of her boys saw that her gaze had gone someplace else. He looked where she was looking.


    Mata reached under the collar of her oversized t-shirt and made a show of adjusting her bra strap. The black strap had been doing just fine before she touched it. She just slid it an inch towards her shoulder and then slid it right back where it started from. The small gesture worked like it was supposed to. All eyes were back where they belonged, on her.


    Slut, she thought.


    The slut was looking tentative as she walked a few more hesitant steps forward into the Devil¡¯s Inn.


    She had raven hair and red lips, olive flawless complexion and her face was very pretty. Her outfit was simple, form fitting spandex leggings, the shiny full of spandex kind paired with a flowing emerald top. The top looked loose and comfortable and even modest, but hinted at large breasts that bounced slightly as she walked.


    Every eye in the place was on her. Most eyes in the place were on her. Mata kept her audience focused on herself.


    All hesitant and tentative, looking this way and that, she was clearly lost. Finally, a guy approached her. The guy was not a stereotypical geek- he had stylish glasses and a nice body. His jeans fit well- they weren¡¯t loose fitting dad jeans and his t-shirt hinted at a toned body. He wasn''t a 90 pound weakling who never left mom''s basement.


    "You look lost, can I help you?¡±


    The slut in the emerald blouse smiled at him. "I hope so. I think I''m in the right place, the Devil¡¯s Inn?"


    "You''re in the right place." He looked at her chest. Eyes back to her face. She didn''t react to him looking blatantly at her covered boobs. "You don''t have an id tag."


    Seriously? Was he really just looking for an ID? She wondered. Out loud she said "I know. Joe was supposed to leave it for me and he didn''t and the guard gave me such a hard time about getting in the building."


    ¡°They''re not supposed to let you in without one." He fished for something to say. She didn''t say anything.


    "Are you meeting somebody here?" He finally asked.


    "Yeah, Joe."


    "What team is, uh, Joe on?"


    "I don''t remember. This is kind of a blind date and..." The slut in the emerald blouse managed to look embarrassed. "I thought it was a weird time when I saw all of the, all of this going on."


    "It is weird timing." The next line sprung to mind. He hopefully said "You can call me Joe."


    She laughed, just like he hoped she would. And the melodious laugh was everything he hoped it would be.


    "Well, I think Joe is a jerk for standing me up."This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    "In that case, I''m not Joe. I''m Jermaine." He held out his hand.


    "I''m Jasmine." She shook his hand. When they were done shaking, she held his hand longer than needed. After a whole lot of ¡°Mississippi''s¡± she let it go.


    "If you have some time, can you tell me what''s going on?" Her arm swept the monitors.


    "Sure¡­"


    Sitting at the bar, Kayleigh snorted derisively and turned back to her drink. It was a ginger ale and cherry juice. She just wanted a comfort drink. It was her break and why not grab a dinner away from ¡°the guys¡± while she had a chance.


    There was movement beside her, but she hardly spared a glance. The barkeep came over. The guy next to her ordered a beer and asked for a menu.


    He chuckled. She looked over at him. Just a guy, she thought. There were a few hundred guys in the dev center. Some were uber-geeky and a few gorgoeus specimens- like the one talking to the emerald slut. Most were just ordinary average guys like this one. Unfortunately, even in this day and age, too many of the guys still had an attitude about them. Sure there were a lot of women engineers and programmers, but not as many as there were men. And a lot of the men, and a lot of the women, had shit attitudes.


    Kayleigh had dealt with enough attitude from men and women and everybody in the last few hours. I just want some peace.


    He shook his head and turned away from the slut in the emerald top. He must have noticed Kayliegh looking at him. He smiled. ¡°Do you believe that?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That little drama over there? Girl walks into a bar and guys stumble over themselves to help her.¡±


    She snorted again. ¡°In this day and age?¡± She paused for a second. ¡°Yeah, I can believe it.¡±


    He raised an eyebrow. This guy doesn¡¯t deserve attitude. She softened her tone a little. ¡°As long as men come running, women will play them.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡±


    ¡°There is another slut over there.¡± She didn¡¯t bother to turn around, but he did.


    ¡°Geeze, there she is,¡± he said. He kept watching.


    After a few seconds, she thought Got a good view? More seconds later, Kayleigh finally asked, ¡°Which one is more attractive?¡±


    ¡°Them? I guess the new girl.¡±


    ¡°You guess? They aren¡¯t your type?¡±


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m a guy. I didn¡¯t say they were ugly.¡± He took a sip of his beer. ¡°They¡¯re just not what I¡¯m looking for in my life.¡±


    The only people less represented than women are gays,  she thought. ¡°And what are you looking for?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll let you know when I find it.¡±


    Kayliegh raised an eyebrow. ¡°It?¡±


    ¡°It,¡± he said with a smile. He gestured back at one of the girls, ¡°He bought her a drink.¡±


    Kayleigh didn¡¯t bother to look. ¡°Guy¡¯s do that. Just start buying every pretty girl in the place a drink.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a guy, so you¡¯ll have to let me buy you one.¡± She looked at him, he continued, ¡°or maybe dinner?¡±


    She eyed him, gears turning in her mind. What the hell? He looked away, down at the menu. Is he embarrassed? Is he hitting on me? Is he gay? Is he just playing around? Maybe being around Hoff and his constant pickup lines is just making me edgy? That¡¯s the price for being part of PepMotion though it shouldn¡¯t be. Why can¡¯t he...


    ¡°Hey,¡± he said, ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to¡­ I mean I thought it would be funny if...¡±


    She interrupted him. ¡°A drink, sure, I guess you can buy me one.¡± Her eyes darted over to Emerald Blouse. ¡°Even though I don¡¯t look like them?¡±


    He laughed. ¡°Because you don¡¯t look like them. You have some self-respect. And I¡¯ll make you buy the second round.¡±


    She smiled, gay guys are fun to flirt with.

 29. FIGHTING IN THE WAREHOUSE

    FIGHTING IN THE WAREHOUSE


    This must be how Mark feels. At this instant Angie was airborne, falling backwards. A shotgun blast from fairly close range had literally lifted her off her feet. Angie knew her thought was ridiculous. It was also ridiculous to have this much time to think while falling in the middle of a firefight. I hope this is natural and not some flaw in the equipment or my programming. Maybe the developers have a way to slow down time or¡­


    WHOOF. Angie hit the ground hard, she had the wind knocked out of her. Her helmeted head hitting the concrete floor was a surprisingly painful shock. The VR gear is working, I guess.


    By some miracle of fate, or very good programming, the muzzle of Angie¡¯s rifle was aimed perfectly at Miranda. All it would take was a very gentle squeeze of the trigger to blow Miranda into component pieces of code, assuming she was an AI. Should I kill her? If I pull the trigger, would I be doing Mark and Sara a favour? Angie wondered.


    As fast as Angie could think, the computer thought faster. It was ready to react. If Angie pulled the trigger a thousand subroutines would activate. Angie, Miranda, this whole scenario was a very small part of a huge universe, but they could they have a big effect? If a butterfly flaps its wings on Planet Beta Ham 3, could it effect the weather on Planet Bob 200 sectors away?


    If she didn¡¯t pull the trigger, a thousand subroutines would activate. The computing power required to run the game was immense. And now, at this instant, the power was in Angie¡¯s hands.


    Dammit! Angie lowered her weapon and slowly got to her knees and looked around. Carmen and whatever she came here for was gone. That bitch Maresa and her f-in shotgun were gone too. We will meet again, perra. I hope that means what I think it means. It better not mean ¡®buttercup¡¯.


    </a>The TU¡¯COns were here. They were in a shootout with Carmen¡¯s troopers. Everybody was shooting at everybody. Carmen¡¯s troopers were yelling ¡°Fall back, fall back. Retirada.¡± From high above, Southaven and Mike were dropping grenades and taking shots. The TU¡¯COns were dying hard.


    A laser shot took one of Carmen¡¯s troopers in the face. Quite literally, he had another hole in his head. The heat of the laser must have cauterized the wound- there was no splash of blood and brains. An accelerator rifle would have blown out the back of his head.


    Two, three, four of Carmen¡¯s troops were quickly out the door that Carmen had fled through. The last one took a shot at the TU¡¯COns, and then took a shot at Angie. There was a yell next to her, but that would keep.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Angie snapped a shot at the trooper. Then a burst of shots. The trooper disappeared out the door. Dammit, dammit, dammit. She really thought she had hit him. There would be time for that later.


    A TU¡¯COn was much more important right now. This particular beast was charging right at her. It¡¯s scales seemed to glitter a bit when it ran. For whatever reason, it didn¡¯t have its laser rifle. Was that a burn mark across it¡¯s body? The thing had a crowbar and at this instant, that piece of steel looked more threatening than a laser rifle.


    Time seemed to slow down. The TU¡¯COn¡¯s eyes seemed to blaze red as it got closer. Angie felt like she was trapped in molasses as she swung her rifle on target. Vaguely she was aware of Mark and Miranda doing something. Another thing for later. Right now her attention was on imminent death. The TU¡¯COn seemed to be moving faster than she was. It¡¯s muscled legs were pumping it closer and closer. Its gutteral grunts and harsh words were intimidating.  The steel death in its hand started to go backwards as it got ready to take a swing. Is that rotten smell its breath?


    She had been ready to put a slug through Miranda¡¯s skull, now she hoped to put slugs through the rampaging TU¡¯COn. Angie eased back on the trigger. The muzzle was vaguely pointed in the direction of the TU¡¯COn. Three slugs zipped past the TU¡¯COn on their way to the ceiling. The steel bar of death was starting to swing towards her, the TU¡¯COn was that close. Angie was struggling to get her weapon on target. She wasn¡¯t able to aim it where she wanted, but time was up and it was close enough. She jerked back on the trigger. The TU¡¯COn was close enough that she couldn¡¯t miss. Slugs tore through its shoulder.


    The burst wasn¡¯t a kill shot, but it caused the steel bar of death to go flying off to nowhere as the TU¡¯COn¡¯s arm became useless. The TU¡¯COn wasn¡¯t done though. It tried to body slam Angie. Close, but not quite. Angie twisted and took a glancing blow. If the TU¡¯COn had been whole. It¡¯s massive shoulder might have knocked her down. Now it was just a glancing blow.


    With her rifle, she tracked the TU¡¯COn as it tried to stop and turn. Angie again took the shot she had. Slugs stitched through TU¡¯COn scales and flesh. Nothing cauterized these wounds. Blood and gore splattered everywhere.


    Angie let off the trigger and watched the TU¡¯COn fall. It landed like a sack of flour and stayed there. Threat neutralized.


    Again she surveyed the area. The shooting was over. Mike and Southaven had killed three. Heather had shot two. Carmen¡¯s people had killed two. Angie one for sure, maybe another. Mark and Miranda¡­ Miranda was fussing over Mark. It looked like he had been shot again. This was another minor injury. At some point, one of these injuries wasn¡¯t going to be minor. She checked his health bar. There was less than half remaining, but he wasn¡¯t going to die, yet.


    This was a stupid delay. Maybe we should have skipped this quest.


    ¡°Check the bodies, search the area and let¡¯s get to the firebase,¡± Angie ordered.


    ¡°When we check the dead bodies, should we, uh, check Mark too?¡± There was laughter, but neither Mark not Miranda found it funny.

 30. FIREBASE ALPHA: REFIT

    FIREBASE ALPHA: REFIT


    Angie breated a sigh of relief. Her team wasn¡¯t the last one to arrive at Firebase Alpha, but close. All of the teams that accepted a quest were slow arriving. Angie found out that some teams, like PepMotion, raced here in hours. Cooling their heels for a day? That must be driving Flanni nuts. She laughed.  Traitorous bastard.


    Team Bloop had been assigned a hooch, a big tent really. The tents were tents setup near the perimeter wall. The outside tent walls featured sandbags stacked about four feet high. If the TU¡¯COns or rebels got through the fence and if they ripped the tent down, it would be a great defensive position.


    The Staff Sergeant who brought them to the hooch rightly assumed they needed some time to ¡°refit and figure things out.¡± He was right. Skills and promotions, healing, refitting equipment. There was lots to do and an unknown about of time to do it in. Time depended on the last two teams out in the field.


    There were eight cots in the hootch. Angie ticked them off when they got there- Me, Mike, Heather, Mark. I guess Miranda and Souothaven. Wo are the other two for? The rest of Southaven¡¯s team? Would Miranda actually bunk in here? Would the Mps put her in the brig?


    Right now Angie¡¯s team, minus Miranda and Southaven were sitting on cots in the tent-hootch. Mostly they were just taking a deep breath and relaxing for a second- there were no threats here.


    ¡°TEN-HUT!¡± Everybody jumped to their feet. The Chief Master Sergeant stormed into the tent following his shout. An officer came in behind him. The officer was Captain Julian Bukowksi, the company commander.


    ¡°You have done outstanding work in a difficult situation. To reward you, I have some promotions to hand out.,¡± the Captain said.


    Angie, as the president of Team Bloop, had been given a bonus and started the game as a Lance Corporal. She was now promoted to Sergeant. Captain Bukowski shook her hand and handed her a set of stripes. When she took them, they magically appeared on her sleeve. That was expected, but no notifications? Shouldn¡¯t I get some kind of notification when I level up?


    Heather and Mark were promoted to Private First Class. When Mike¡¯s turn came, he was given his PFC stripe and then the Chief Master Sergeant handed the officer something else. Captain Bukowski held up a set of wings.


    ¡°Private, you are hereby awarded provisional flight status.¡± When he handed Mike the wings, the award magically appeared on the left side of his chest. ¡°If you want to take the time to go to a flight academy, you just let me know.¡±


    Angie hoped he¡¯d turn it down. Going to a flight academy could take weeks. We don¡¯t have time for that.


    ¡°Uh, Thank you sir.¡± Mike replied, ¡°maybe sometime after we are off this, uh, rock.¡±


    ¡°Yu let me know, not sure we could have gotten you there now anyway.¡± The captain now addressed the group. ¡°Get squared away and get ready. We have to get those people who did us wrong.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Yes, sir,¡± the group answered in unison. The Captain and Chief Master Sergeant left.


    Now all of the notifications started popping up.


    With her promotion to Sergeant, Angie was given a free skill. During the course of her mission, she had also picked up skills in: command, leadership, marksmanship- shooting and killing, rifleman- pretty much for existing, first aid- for tending to Mark, negotiation- for talking with Carmen, both strategy and tactics and the unfortunately named looting skill.


    There was no guarantee that doing something, like tending to Mark¡¯s injuries, would give you a skill like first aid. There was a random chance that doing something would lead to a skill. How hard the task and how often you did it made a difference. After you had the skill you had to work to improve it. Putting band-aids on boo-boos wasn¡¯t going to increase your First Aid skill.


    With her free skill, Angie did nothing. She was waiting to use it later. She didn¡¯t have to select a skill, so she wasn¡¯t going to. In the future, new skills would unlock- more choices and better skills. She also may want to level up a current skill. Who knew how much longer the space marine scenario would last or what a future task might be. Tomorrow, if they urgently needed a skilled radio operator, she could add the radio skill. If they had to repair a satellite, she could add the repair skill.


    Angie had encouraged everybody else to save some skills as well. Mike was going to do his own thing and had used up his skill. Heather and Mark listened to her and were waiting to choose their final skills.


    Skills and everything taken care of, it was time to eat and rearm. It was a VR game, but they still had to eat in-game. Characters could get weak, sick or even starve to death. With the advanced VR capabilities, the players would feel sluggish and weak when their characters did. In our capsules, my code makes us feel hungry. Yay for me! At least it won¡¯t kill us if we starve. I think.


    She grabbed Mark as they went off to eat.


    ¡°Sergeant?¡± He looked at her expectantly. Him calling her by her new rank was a little surprising, but she ignored it.


    ¡°Two things,¡± she said, ¡°first...¡± She handed him the short barreled accelerator rifle she had taken during the base raid. ¡°Accelerator rifle model G-80 carbine.¡±


    He took it and turned it over in his hands. ¡°Nice.¡±


    ¡°I hear lots of scouts prefer shorter barrels.¡±


    ¡°Less to get snagged on in the brush,¡± Mark just kinda knew that. Must be something from the scout skill I got.


    ¡°It¡¯s a G-80. Slightly more advanced than the G-78.¡± She nodded to the rifle he had slung over his shoulder. ¡°Get the camp¡¯s gun smith to check it out.¡±


    ¡°Sure thing.¡± He smiled at her and then added, ¡°Sarge.¡±


    Whatever, she thought and smiled back. ¡°Next, what¡¯s up with Miranda?¡±


    Miranda had gone off when they first got back to camp. Both Miranda and SouthHaven had other things to deal with. Southaven was probably with his team. Miranda had come back to their hootch. Right now she was walking with Mike and Heather.


    Mark was on the edge of being defensive. ¡°What do you mean what¡¯s up with her?¡±


    Angie started ambling forward. She didn¡¯t want to split the team up too much. ¡°Is she staying with us? Can we trust her? Is she playing us for fools and working for Carmen? Is she a real flesh and blood player?¡±


    ¡°I¡­I don¡¯t know. I think we can trust her, just a feeling.¡±


    Just a feeling? Angie wanted to rant about AI and programs and sugar spun software, but she said simply, ¡°find out.¡±

 31. FIREBASE ALPHA: BRIEFING & 32 DINNER WITH HENRY

    <h1 class="western">FIREBASE ALPHA: BRIEFING</h1>


    Breath, Angie told her self for the 15th time, breath. Don''t focus in him, focus on the mission. Him was Lance Corporal James Flaigan, everybody just called him Flanni. Originally, Flanni was going to lead her squad of players through the game while she worried about her beloved equipment. Unfortunately for Angie, Flanni quit her team hours before the competition. That was how Angie ended up playing in the game right now.


    Breath, don''t let him under your skin again. Flanni was more than a former coworker. Focus on the captain. Hey look, she thought, he''s onto mission.


    Captain Bukowski was gong step by step through a very regulation 5 step operations order. He was into step two, The Mission. Angie knew the short version of the mission- they were going to attack Carmen and take back the case she stole from the TU''COn.


    ¡°Step three, execution,¡± Captain Bukowski continued, ¡°Staff Sergeant Emm will command the northern assault. Sergeant Angie will be his deputy.¡± Angie nodded. Flanni frowned.


    The armchair general wanted a command. She thought. Ssgt Emm was an NPC. She would be the ranking player in the Northern assault. He just wants to be in charge.


    ¡°The northern assault team will be copied of Team Bloop, Team Souhhaven, Team Crayons and Team PepMotion.¡±


    Are you kidding me? Angie just barely kept her mouth shut. Flanni didn''t suppress his displeasure.


    The captain paused. ¡°Lance Corporal Flannigan, do you have a problem?¡±


    Flanni immediately straighten up in his chair. ¡°No sir.¡±


    ¡°Because if you do, you and your team can sit this one out.¡± The captain¡¯s glare was intense. He may have only been an AI in a game, but his glare was piercing.


    Oh please yes, Angie thought, it would serve those backstabbing bastards right. A punishment worse than killing their characters.


    ¡°No sir,¡± Flanni said, ¡°just excited and looking forward to the mission.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± the captain said. ¡°Now, each team will send one member to a special detail.¡± Around the room, hands immediately raised a special detail? Did that mean a special mission or a special detail cleaning latrines so the sensory filters can be tested? The captain ignored everybody¡¯s raised hands. "The Eastern assault team..." He continued speaking as the hands went back down.


    <h1 class="western">COMMAND CENTER: DINNER WITH HENRY</h1>


    Sam Kline massaged his temples. He was trying to find the positive points. A teacher in elementary school had taught them all these magic points on the temples of their heads. ¡°If you rubbed them,¡± the third grade teacher had said, ¡°it will give you energy and put you in a good mood.¡±


    It was crap. Kline had learned that right after they learned it. But still it was a habit that helped him focus a little. Maybe it¡¯s not total crap.


    Across from him, Jasmine Lens was drinking coffee. Neither of them was in a bad mood. They were in a cautiously good mood. So far there had been no real disasters in the game. Some stupid things, a disqualified team- that was a little weird, but everything was good so far. Jasmine and Kline were just flat out tired.


    Jasmine was the project director for this Space Opera scenario. Kline was the Space Opera corporation''s lead programmer. Basically, Kline was in charge of everything technical. Other companies would have called him a Chief Technology Officer. Kline thought the title Lead Programmer kept him more grounded.


    They were in a private dining area. The food was provided by the Devil¡¯s Inn, but Kline and Jasmine made a point of staying away from the players at this point. They also strongly recommended that nobody on the control room side talked to players either. It was easy to forbid corporate staff from fraternizing, but college kids and interns were harder to control. ¡°Loose lips sink ships and tank scenarios,¡± the staff was told. ¡°Don¡¯t ruin the game.¡±


    Kline poked at his food. It was good, he¡¯d just waken up and wasn¡¯t quite hungry yet.  ¡°After the raid I¡¯m going to crash for a bit.¡±


    ¡°No way, ¡± Jasmine said, ¡°it¡¯s my turn to get some sleep.¡±


    ¡°Henry can oversee the operation for a few hours.¡± Kline smiled as he said it.


    ¡°Good grief, can you imagine what he would do?¡±


    Henry had boundless enthusiasm, but Kline had always been the one to channel and harness that enthusiasm- keeping Henry grounded was a full time job.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    On cue, like a whirlwind, Henry burst into the dining room. Following in his wake was Dorothy Corman, president of the college. Kline looked past them.


    Henry looked back at the closing door. ¡°What¡¯d I miss?¡±


    ¡°I just wanted to make sure those reporters weren¡¯t with you.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re great aren¡¯t they?¡± Dorothy gushed. ¡°I think they have a future in the news.¡±


    ¡°They get in my way,¡± Jasmine opined.


    Henry smiled, ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for those meddlesome kids¡­¡±


    The door opened behind them. Kline tensed. In walked a waiter with food and drinks, no reporters. Still, there was silence as the waiter placed the dishes on the table. He had brought enough food for eight people. Quickly, the waiter left.


    Henry sat down and started making himself a plate. ¡°We have some interesting news.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Henry looked to Dorothy. She spoke, ¡°The ratings are very strong.¡± Henry and Dorothy looked very pleased with themselves.


    Jasmine asked, ¡°And¡­?¡±


    ¡°There is a lot of interest in The Costa Brava Scenario,¡± Henry said. ¡°It¡¯s a good scenario. Impressive graphics, the kid¡¯s equipment is mostly working. I have reason to believe it will improve are numbers across the board- revenue, number of players...¡±


    ¡°Interest in the university, applications & enrollments and nterest in hiring our students,¡± Dorothy chimed in.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget endowments and all that,¡± Henry said.


    ¡°I never forget those,¡± Dorothy said.


    ¡°Cool,¡± Kline reached for a burger.


    ¡°Very cool, but let me tell you something interesting that popped up from our focus groups,¡± Henry said.


    ¡°Wait,¡± Kine interrupted, ¡°since when do we have focus groups?¡± The ketchup bottle oozed ketchup, lots of ketchup onto the burger. Kline was no longer paying attention to condiments. What the hell is he up to?


    ¡°Actually we don¡¯t,¡± Henry nodded towards Dorothy, ¡°The university does.¡± Henry looked at the uber ketchupy burger.


    That doesn¡¯t make things better. Kline put aside the ketchup. One mess at a time. Outloud, Kline asked ¡°and what interesting thing do the focus groups say?¡±


    ¡°There is a huge interest in team Bloop.¡±


    Jasmine wrinkled her face. ¡°Bloop? Angie¡¯s team? They¡¯re ok. Their gear is solid, but there¡¯s nothing special about them.¡±


    Henry beamed at Dorothy, ¡°For the first time in a year, Jasmine is wrong. Hold on, I have to bask in this.¡± He turned his beaming smile to to Kline and then Jasmine. He took a very satisfied breath and let it out. He told Dorothy, ¡°She¡¯s wrong slightly m ore often than Kline. And he¡¯s never wrong.¡±


    ¡°What,¡± Kline got his words out very deliberately, ¡°are you talking about?¡±


    Henry laughed. ¡°Ok, ok, ok. First we have a betrayal...¡±


    ¡°So Flanni quit Angie¡¯s team, it happens,¡± Jasmine said.


    ¡°No, the first betrayal was a month or so ago.¡± He turned to Dorothy, ¡°Is betrayal the right word?¡±


    Dorothy shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡±


    ¡°Oh, anyway, the problem started a month ago. Then he backstabbed her and jumped to PepMotion.¡±


    ¡°What happened a month ago?¡±


    ¡°Did you know, I didn¡¯t know, did you know that Mark, her new guy on the team, was married to Gracie-Lynn.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡± Kline had no idea what he was talking about.


    ¡°Gracie-Lynn,¡± Henry said it with emphasis this time. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you don¡¯t know who Gracie-Lynn is. The famous reality star Gracie-Lynn. Life with Gracie!¡± Again there was emphasis, like everybody in the planet knows Gracie-Lynn.


    ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± Jasmine interrupted. ¡°Who is Gracie-Lynn?¡±


    Kline answered. ¡°A reality star. She¡¯s famous for being famous. She¡¯s had a bunch of husbands and several of her daughters join her in hogging the spotlight and living life large.¡±


    ¡°Not all of her daughters,¡± Dorothy interjected. ¡°One of her daughters avoids the spotlight. That daughter, Sarah is a student here and is playing on one of the teams. And now Mark, Gracie-Lynn¡¯s ex, is playing on a different team.¡±


    Kline and Jasmine looked at Dorothy and Henry.


    Henry sensed the other two didn¡¯t get it. ¡°And with a weird romance thing between Gracie-Lynn¡¯s ex and this Miranda, the social media verse is exploding. Everybody wants to know if Miranda is real or a, how did Heather put it, a ¡®sugar spun program.¡¯ If he is flirting with a program instead of Gracie-Lynn, the itnerweb is going to explode.¡±


    ¡°And if he is hooking up with a human instead of Gracie-Lynn, the interweb is going to explode,¡± Henry added.


    There was silence as this sank in.


    ¡°Ratings and focus groups?¡±


    ¡°With maybe a nudge this could go nuclear¡­¡±


    There it is, Henry tensed. ¡°You want to mess with the game for ratings?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to mess with the game.¡±


    ¡°Then what do you want?¡±


    ¡°I want to add...¡± Henry saw the look on Kline¡¯s face and amended his words. ¡°I want to enhance a small sub-plot. There should be no game effects.¡±


    ¡°So its cool if Miranda dies in 12 hours?¡±


    Henry gave a small bobble of his head. ¡°Not really cool, per se, I¡¯d rather¡­¡±


    ¡°You cannot mess with game Henry. We will not.¡± Kline was adamant. ¡°I can¡¯t believe we have to have this argument again.¡±


    Henry turned to Dorothy. ¡°Life¡¯s not interesting if we aren¡¯t having this argument every other month.¡± Dorothy smiled politely.


    ¡°Wait,¡± Jasmine interrupted. ¡°What happened a month ago?¡±

 33. Firebase Alpha: FIREBASE ALPHA: COFFEE OR DINNER

    <h1 class="western">FIREBASE ALPHA: COFFEE OR DINNER</h1>


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong!¡± The Armorer Sergeant was perplexed. He was watching Mark fire his new G-80 pulse carbine. They were on the firing range. There was no room for the range iside the firebase, so they built a range outside the wire. The armorer¡¯s workshop was in a truck that was currently parked by the range.


    The Armorer¡¯s two assistants were sitting on big chairs made out of sandbags. One of them was looking through binoculars to see exactly how off the shots were. There was nobody else on the range, except for a black hound dog.


    One of the assistants spoke up, ¡°I swear everything is ok with it me and Bert....¡±


    Armorer Sergeant interrupted, ¡°I know, I checked it myself.¡±


    Mark started to say something, but the Armorer Sergeant didn¡¯t give him a chance to get words out. ¡°I had to swap a few parts and tighten the mechanism, but the sights are good and the barrel¡­¡± a thought struck him. ¡°You¡¯re not using the scope are you? It¡¯s not sighted.¡±


    The G-80 Pulse Carbine came with a shorter barrel and a small scope. Some scouts left the scope on and others took it off. A scope could give you some bonuses to sight and detection, but could negatively effect camouflage. Everything in the game had pluses and minuses.


    Mark shook his head and blurted it out. ¡°No, it¡¯s not the scope. The gun might be fin...¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a gun,¡± the Armorer Sergeant said reflexively, ¡°over in the fire pit, those big arty pieces is guns. That there is a G-80 Scout Pulse Carbine.¡±


    One of the soldiers looked at his companion, ¡°rookie mistake.¡± It looked like the Armorer Sergeant was taking a deep breath and winding up for a speech. It was a long speech about the difference between guns and rifles and carbines and...


    Mark just started talking. ¡°My mistake Sarge, but I think I know what...¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been doin¡¯ this 25 years sonny boy, don¡¯t you think I know what I¡¯m doin¡¯?¡±


    I must be in some kind of program set. It may not matter what I say. ¡°Yeah Sarge, I know you are the expert but¡­¡±


    ¡°But what?¡± There was an edge to the Armorer Sergeant that wasn¡¯t there before. He was getting worked up. ¡°But I don¡¯t know my way around the newer pulse rifles That when the H-series comes out I won¡¯t be able to handle it? That I should take the next promotion or get out of the service? Is that what you think?¡±


    What the hell? ¡°I, uh, Sarge I think you are top shelf. Best armorer I¡¯ve ever seen and this beauty,¡± he hefted the carbine, ¡°before you touched it I think it was in shit shape. You made her beautiful and....¡±


    ¡°Damn right I did.¡±


    Mark jumped back in, ¡°Nobody preps a gun...¡± The Armorer Sergeant glared. The assistants laughed.  Mark pressed on. ¡°Rifle, carbine, nobody works a weapon like you.¡±


    The Armorer Sergeant grumbled something unintelligible. One of the assistants heaved a ball down alongside the range. Nobody was shooting and the dog needed some exercise. It dutifully ran after the ball. 50 meters out something distracted it and the dog went chasing something new.


    ¡°The problem isn¡¯t you, Sarge. The problem is me.¡±


    The Armorer Sergeant stared ed at Mark. I didn¡¯t think AI¡¯s could read stats, Mark thought.


    ¡°You don¡¯ got no marksman badge.¡± After the Armorer Sergeant spoke, the assistants peered at Mark too.


    He wasn¡¯t reading stats, he was looking at my uniform or record or¡­ ¡°No, Sarge, I don¡¯t.¡±


    The Armorer Sergeant took the weapon and aimed down range. He fired several small bursts. Each round hit its target. High above the far end of the range, some birds circled. The Armorer Sergeant looked up. So did Mark. The birds looked kind of like eagles or hawks or condors, no matter what they were majestic birds of prey. Oh no, no, no.


    ¡°Uh, Sarge?¡± One of the other soldiers spoke up.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Quick as a snake, the Armorer Sergeant snapped the weapon up, exhaled and fired a single round. One hundred meters away and high up, there was a burst of feathers.


    ¡°Damn Sarge,¡± The other assistant was exasperated.


    ¡°Are you a sniper?¡± Mark asked.


    The Armorer Sergeant beamed with pride. ¡°Me,¡± he laughed happily, ¡°this fat old body isn¡¯t going crawling through the brush for three days to get a lucky shot, no sir. That¡¯s just using these weapons my whole life.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know Sarge, that was some damn incredible shooting.¡± Mark was envious. ¡°I¡¯ll never shoot that good.¡±


    Again the Armorer Sergeant laughed. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think you will. Run along, I¡¯ll sight in the scope and maybe you can hit a target with it.¡±


    ¡°Sarge,¡± Mark began but was immediately interrupted.


    ¡°Come back in an hour and it¡¯ll be right as rain.¡±


    The Armorer Sergeant turned his back on Mark. Mark started to walk away. As he left he hard some commotion. He looked back. The dog had brought in the remains of a big bird.


    ¡°Aw hell, Sarge, you shot a Gossamer out of the sky.¡±


    ¡°Hell of a shot too.¡±


    ¡°Sarge it¡¯s like the national bird around here. You can¡¯t just go blasting symbols like this out of the sky when everything is so touchy with the locals.¡±


    ¡°Sure I can.¡±


    Unbelieveable, Mark thought as he walked away. Unbelieveable.


    He started walking back towards the gate when he saw her walking towards him. ¡°Hey Miranda!¡±


    She smiled as she walked up to him. ¡°I thought you deserted. I asked where you were and everybody said you went outside the wire.¡±


    ¡°No, its just where the range is.¡± He gestured to the firing range.


    She looked over there and then froze. ¡°is that a dead gossamer?¡± She connected the dots quickly. ¡°Did you shoot a gossamer?¡±


    ¡°Me?¡± he was surprised at the question, ¡°shoot a bird?¡±


    ¡°it¡¯s not just a bird.¡± She wouldn¡¯t be distracted. ¡°It¡¯s a treasure.¡± She wheeled back to Mark again. ¡°Did they shoot a gossamer?¡±


    What happens if I get this question wrong? Do I lose reputation with her? ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure it was dead when they found it on the ground.¡± Close enough to the truth. ¡°You were looking for me?¡± He knew that he had a goofy grin. Be a damn adult, please, you are too old to be a teenager with a crush.


    She smiled. It was a pretty smile. Her uniform was tailored, it looked good and functional. She looked good. Seriously! He chastised himself. Get a grip.


    ¡°I, uh I,¡± she stuttered shyly, ¡°I just wanted to say hi. Hi.¡±


    ¡°Hi.¡±


    It was quiet for moment. Noise from the range broke the silence.


    ¡°Want to grab some coffee?¡± He asked as he guided her back towards the gate and away from the range and dead birds.


    ¡°I¡¯d love to,¡± she said as she walked beside him. ¡°But I can¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡± They stopped walking, they were still short of the gate.


    She was looking down the road, away from him. ¡°I have a mission.¡±


    ¡°What kind of mission?¡±


    ¡°My job is to go find my half-sister and report back. The brigadier doesn¡¯t know if he can trust me or not.¡± She was clearly unhappy. ¡°Years of work with the government and the Federation Alliance all shot to hell because of that bitch.¡±


    Mark nodded. He didn¡¯t really know what to say.


    ¡°And we both know how excited she will be to see me.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Mark said. ¡°So what are you going to do?¡±


    ¡°Find where she is and call the Brigadier. I don¡¯t know what happens after that.¡± She smiled at him. It was a slightly sad smile. ¡°So what happens with you?¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°I have no idea.¡± HE really didn¡¯t. ¡°I¡¯m just waiting for orders.¡±


    ¡°What will the orders say?¡±


    ¡°Will you be here if I get back?¡±


    ¡°When you get back,¡± Mark insisted, ¡°when.¡± He shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± He frowned. ¡°I just don¡¯t know.¡±


    Neither one said anything, they just looked in each other¡¯s eyes.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t we a pair,¡± Mark finally said.


    ¡°Not yet,¡± she said smiling. ¡°But I¡¯d love to grab that cup of coffee if you¡¯re still here and if I get back.¡±


    ¡°When you get back,¡± he smiled, ¡°how ¡®bout we grab some dinner.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a date. I know a great place.¡±


    ¡°Great.¡±


    ¡°Great.¡±


    DO SOMETHING! He screamed at himself internally. But what if she¡¯s an AI? I will look rediciulous if I kiss a sugar spun program. What if she¡¯s not? GET A GRIP!


    Suddenly she took matters into her own hands and hugged him. He hugged her back. She pulled back slightly and they looked in each other¡¯s eyes as they still embraced. She struck quickly, her lips on his for an instant before she pulled away.


    ¡°Dinner when I get back.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting for you.¡± If I¡¯m still here.


    She turned and walked away. Is that some shimmy to her walk? This is one hell of a game.

 34. COMMAND CENTER: CONGRESSMAN & 35. IN THE FIELD

    <h1 class="western">COMMAND CENTER: CONGRESSMAN</h1>


    ¡°This is one hell of a game you have here,¡± Congressman Tilers said.


    ¡°Sure is,¡± Henry Andle answered. Henry, one of the owners of Space Opera LLC, knew that these VIP visits were part of the corporate game. University President Dorothy Corman was there too. Congressman Tilers sat on several committees that could help or hinder both the university and Space Opera LLC.


    Along with congressman were two aides. One of them stayed close to the congressman. The other was staring at the monitors over a tech¡¯s head.


    ¡°What is going on here?¡± Congressman Tilers walked to where his aide was staring. ¡°That¡¯s not the game, is it?¡± The monitor was showing one of the work spaces- half workshop-half computer lab.


    ¡°No. That¡¯s one of the teams work areas,¡± Henry answered. ¡°We look in on them to see what they¡¯re doing and how they¡¯re doing it.¡±


    ¡°IS it true that you hire many of your people from here?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right, congressman,¡± Dorothy answered. ¡°A good number of our graduates are snapped up by Space Opera, and some of their competitors. Fortunately for us, some of the grants you have sponsored have helped keep our programs top notch.¡±


    The congressman, and the aid standing near him nodded. Dorothy had been playing the fundraising game long enough to know how to score some easy points. Flattery and thankfulness were easy points.


    ¡°What do you look for in your new employees?¡±


    ¡°Good Technical skills to start. Intangibles pay a huge part. Can they think through problems? Grace under pressure, ability to learn, all sorts of intangibles.¡±


    ¡°What about now, what are you looking for?¡± This came from the aide fascinated by the monitors.


    ¡°There is a ton of pressure on the tech teams. And is it a well run team? Are people lazy or industrious? Sometimes are there interesting things happening?


    ¡°Do you ever catch them, uh,¡± The young aide tried to find the word. ¡°problems, challenges, mistakes. Do you ever catch them making or about to make mistakes?¡±


    Henry breathed an internal sigh. He worried the question was going to be about catching them in sexual situations. ¡°sometimes. Sometimes we wind back the recording to see what happened too. Especially to see how they react. It¡¯s one of the reason we don¡¯t allow remote work during the competition.


    Something caught Henry¡¯s eye- at one of the stations two of the techs were smiling. One laughed. When they saw Henry looking, they stopped. Henry wandered over, the congressman followed.


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°We, uh, we just remembered a time that one of our classmates spilled a water bottle into a server,¡± one of the techs said.


    ¡°Ouch.¡±


    ¡°He was building his own server. The whole thing fried. Took him a week to rebuild.¡±


    ¡°What brings that to mind?¡± The congressman asked.


    The tech pointed at the monitor. ¡°She has a cup of soda perched on the edge of one of their servers.¡±


    Everybody leaned in close. The biggest problem wasn¡¯t that there was a cup of soda on the server. The biggest problem was the soda was on the edge of a server with the panel doors open. If it spilled there was nothing stopping catastrophe.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°What team is it?¡± the aide asked.


    ¡°Team Bloop.¡±


    <h1 class="western">IN THE FIELD</h1>


    The artillery barrage would start in 9 minutes. They were hauling ass to get there on time. Angie checked the time again. It hadn¡¯t changed from 20 seconds ago. There it is, she thought. The artillery barrage would start in 8 minutes.


    Staff Sergeant Emm, commander for this part of the assault, was riding in the gun jeep at the head of the small column. There were just two trucks and a gun jeep. Angie, deputy commander for the assault, was riding in the rear truck. Team Bloop, Team MYNdBendz, Team Crayons and Team PepMotion were the assault force. On the other side of the target, four other teams would be attacking.


    There was an urgency to the assault. Command was worried that if they delayed the assault then Carmen and her people would escape with the case. Nobody had explained what was in the case. It didn¡¯t really matter. The quest was to get the damn case. Having a chance to shoot Carmen and her henchmen was a major bonus. Shooting Maresa would be amazing. That bitch had shot her, payback would be a, well, bitch.


    They should have moved out hours ago. As it was, they would arrive just barey after the artillery salvo landed. With anti-personnel bomblets and high explosive blasts, the defenders shouldn¡¯t know what hit them.


    ¡°BREAK BREAK BREAK¡± The radio squawked in her ear. ¡°All units, the package has moved. It is now in the village of Torro. Northern Assault team will attack the village. Southern assault team setup a blocking force. Subtern unit, continue assignment. Bukowski out.¡±


    Well, Angie thought, that¡¯s interesting. The maps displayed on her helmet¡¯s visor. Torro itself wasn¡¯t interesting. The target was on the edge of Torro so they were pretty much going there anyway. The orchard they were driving through wasn¡¯t terribly interesting- trees in orderly rows. It was interesting that Carmen and her important case were on the move. And we should reach the edge of Torro about now¡­.


    An explosion punctuated her thought. Somehow, for some reason, the gun jeep with Sergean Emm exploded. Angie¡¯s truck swerved and skidded to a halt. The other truck swerved and hit a couple of trees. ¡°DEPLOY!¡± Angie yelled. The teams didn¡¯t need much urging as they spilled out of their trucks.


    ¡°In line, in line!¡± Angie was trying to spread everybody out in the orchard and keep them all facing the village.


    Gunfire reached out of at them. Everybody dove for cover.

 36. ADVANCE

    <h1 class="western">ADVANCE</h1>


    "Southaven, get ready to take your team left," Angie ordered. "Mike, Heather, pour down fire!" Those two had HEather''s grenade launcher and a crew served grenade launcher too. She looked between the area ¡°in real life¡± through her HUD and at the minimap.  Yeah, that might work,  she thought.


    "I''ll take a team left," Flanni said- he wasn''t asking permission.


    "Stand fast, Flanni!" Angie fired again and again. She looked at Flanni. He was tensing, ready to run.


    "I said stand fast Flanni. So help me God, I''ll shoot you myself if you run."


    The troopers who weren¡¯t shooting were watching the drama unfold. ¡°Shoot, dman you , shoot!¡± Southaven was yelling at somebody, or nobody. It didn¡¯t matter, it was what Angie needed troopers to be doing while she formulated the plan- and got Flanni in line. Seconds ticked by.


    "It''s not running away if I''m charging," Flanni finally shouted back. They were ten feet apart during a firefight. Yelling wasn''t a big deal. And the intercom throttled the volume automatically.


    She turned to glare at him. He was already looking at her. Their eyes met- or at least their eyelines, they were both wearing helmets with visors down. "Disobey me and I will shoot." What kind of a leader has to threaten to shoot her troops? One who has that bastard Flanni on her team. She looked back towards the action. "Heather, give me smoke!" Angie yelled over the unit intercom. "Cease fire, cease fire."


    ¡°We¡¯re trying,¡± Heater answered.


    There was grumbling over the intercom. It was more than intercom. Some of the troopers were unhappy. Flanni''s voice cut through. "If we run away I''ll shoot YOU. That''s a promise not a threat."


    Can¡¯t they just listen! She grumbled in her mind.  Be calm, be a leader. ¡°Cease fire, dammit! We''re not running."


    ¡°Uh, smoke incoming,¡± Mike said over the unit push.


    Smoke grenades started to land. "Southaven go! You are weapons free. I say again, everybody except Southaven, cease fire. Southaven only is weapons free."


    Southaven''s team started to move. There were only x of them. They fired as they moved, running from cover to cover. The cover was mostly trees. Some weren''t quite wide enough to provide cover.


    There was a scream over the unit push. NectarineOrange, One of Southaven''s squad, fell. His leg was a bloody mess. The HUD didn''t list him as dead, but the blinking icon said it might not be long. People who were close enough could see the blood pulsing out of his leg. Another one of Southhaven¡¯s men, CrystalLakeBlue, started to go back for NectarineOrange. Both were members of Team Crayons. Southaven and Angie both yelled at CrystalLakeBlue to keep going.


    ¡°You save him!¡± CrystalLakeBlue, shouted. ¡°You save him!¡±


    NectarineOrange rolled on the ground clutching his leg. He was screaming for help. ¡°Leave him,¡± Southaven yelled again.


    CrystalLakeBLue swore and kept moving with Southaven and the other two troopers in the impromptu squad.


    "Ang, we have to do something. Charge, help NectarineOrange, do something, anything," Flanni was somewhere between anger and pleading.


    She turned to face him, rifle pointing where she was looking, at him. "When we move have one of your people help Nectarine. ¡°Wait for the order. Got it?"


    The message she sent by turning with her rifle was loud and clear. "Roger that," Flanni answered.


    A scan of the area and a look at the minimap and a quick remote of Southahevn¡¯s camera¡­ This might be working.


    In the inner reaches of the system servers, random numbers were generated, modifiers added and subtracted. Algorithms and AIs made decisions.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The rebels focused on Southaven''s flanking move. The incoming fire was getting heavier. A machine gun opened up. Those bullets peeled pieces off of trees. Small branches rained down onto the prone Southhaven.


    "Everybody get cover," Southhaven yelled. His team obeyed, relieved that this wasn¡¯t a suicide mission. Southhaven had a light wound and CrystalLakeBlue had taken a nasty knock too, but neither were seriously hurt. Nectarine Orange was another story, but not his problem. Stupid Team Crayon names,  Southhaven thought,  What¡¯s next sensational summer sunrise sapphire?


    "That''s as far as we go, Angie," Southhaven radioed on the command channel.


    "Give me all the suppressing fire you can," she replied.


    "You owe me dinner," He answered. "And something. Better than the Devil''s Inn.


    "Its a date."


    Angie didn¡¯t know how to react, so she didn''t say anything. Did he really want to go on a date in real life? On her display, Southaven¡¯s intercom light went out. Did he mean for me to hear that?


    ¡°It is a sweet ass!¡±


    GRRRR leave it to Flanni to take something questionable to awkward in 1.2 seconds. Focus! She chided herself. She keyed the unit push"It''s go time. Straight up the middle."


    "About damn time," Flanni wasn''t the only one who groused. Regardless, the unit moved forward. It didn''t take many steps utility they were in the other side of the smoke.


    They advanced from tree to tree. Nobody fired yet. There weren''t any clear targets. Another 15 meters and they saw the rebels.


    "Permission to fire, ma''am," Flanni''s question dripped with sarcasm.


    "Light ''em up." They did.


    Angie keyed the command push. She meant to send direct to Flanni, but command would be fine. ¡°Flanni, iv eme some covering fire.¡± She dashed forward. Angie and Flanni formed a solid team as they led from the front. Flanni laid down cover fire. His target was an obnoxious looking guy. The kind who when you see him, a total stranger, you just want to punch him in the face. There is no doubt in your mind he has some smart ass comment to make so you want to punch him to keep him from talking. The jerk probably wore obnoxious hats too.


    Unfortunately, as Flanni fired, the guy obnoxiously ducked behind a stone wall.


    Angie dashed forward two trees as Flanni shot into the rock wall. After she took a deep breath, she poked out from behind the tree and fired. At first there was no target, but pulling the trigger might keep somebody¡¯s head down. Then she saw him. The kid couldn''t have been more than 16, but he was playing soldier and shooting at her troops, so the kid was fair game. She gently eased back on the trigger. Three rounds later the kid had fallen.


    If Angie had really wanted, she could have checked the game log to see what kind of hit it was, she thought she got a clean head shot, probably a critical hit. Later, that was a later question. Right now it was enough that he wasn¡¯t shooting back.


    ¡°Nice shot!¡± Fanni yeled as he bounded forward a couple of trees. ¡°You always were good at firing things up.¡±


    ¡°Hah,¡± Angie said. ¡°You never had patience to let things develop or listen to reason.¡± She had a fierce scowl on her face. Somebody might have interpreted it as concentration or focus- a war face.


    ¡°You were always good at blowing things out of proportion.¡± Flanni¡¯s response deepened the scowl. Her closest friends would have read it as unappiness and anger. She could picture the glass flying, aimed right for¡­


    An explosion ahead of her took her full attention. Mike and Heather were laying down grenades. FINALLY!


    ¡°You never should have gone into development. You would have been a great member of the team.¡±


    ¡°I seem to recall somebody saying I¡¯d never be good enough,¡± she said pointedly, ¡°and there is more of a future for me in development.¡±


    ¡°Maybe I was wrong.¡±


    Angie goggled at his words. Did the bastard just admit to being wrong?  It was Angie¡¯s turn to fire. There were fewer targets now. When the grenades started landing, the rebels took better cover. Two shots smacked into the tree Angie was using. She dropped to the ground like her legs had disappeared. The move saved her as more shots hit the tree and wizzed by it. She pulled the trigger and fired on full auto in the direction of the shots.


    Flanni said something, but she totally missed it. Incoming bullets took precedence. It was now her turn to move. She got ready to run, but was trying to find a good place to run towards.


    There wasn¡¯t much undergrowth in the orchard. The problem was that the trees were lousy cover. They just weren¡¯t thick enough. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m in a cartoon,¡± Flanni yelled. The tree he had his back against protected his spine and maybe a little bit more.


    Angie looked at him and laughed. ¡°You always look like a cartoon buffoon.¡±


    ¡°The waskally wabbits are bugging out,¡± Southhaven¡¯s voice cut in over the net.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Angie answered over the command net. Could Southhaven see them?  She looked at the mini map and then across to where Southaven was.  Yeah he probably could, or was Southhaven remoting her camera? Dammit!¡± Angie had finally checked her radio frequencies. Airing our dirty laundry on the command net. Very leaderish. She chewed the inside of her mouth in annoyance. Another thought struck her, was there an edge to Southaven¡¯s voice? Could he be upset about her leadership or because she was talking to Flanni or... Over the unit net she commanded ¡°Keep moving.¡±


    Sometimes the only thing you could do is keep moving...

 37. TUNNEL HATE

    <h1 class="western">TUNNEL HATE</h1>


    I hate tunnels. Absolutely hate them, Mark groused to himself. The tunnel was less than a meter wide and not even a meter high. Mark felt like he had been crawling forever through the small dark space. ¡°I absolutely hate tunnels.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Jenfle asked. Jenfle, the medic from team PepMotion, was right behind him as they crawled through the tunnel.


    As he crawled, Mark checked his intercom settings. Yup, left it on, dammit. I need to stop being a careless noob. ¡°Just remembering that I hate enclosed spaces, Jenfle. Really hate them.¡±


    ¡°Roger that, Mark.¡± There were two more grumbles of agreement- everybody hated tunnels. Sunrise Yellow from Team Crayons and Corporal Kleene, an NPC were the other two members of the team. Team MindBendz had a KIA, so an NPC, a non-player character was inserted to help them out the squad. On the plus side, it was an extra body with a gun. On the down side, initiative and intelligence were hit and miss. Some of the AIs were amazing and some were just cannon fodder. Nobody was sure just where Kleene would end up. When Mark had looked at Kleene¡¯s properties he noticed something weird- Kleene didn¡¯t have a first name. Sunrise Yellow said that was a real bad sign.


    The crawl continued.


    There was a very iffy communications signal with the surface. Sometimes the systems sync¡¯d up and sometimes there was no communication with Angie and the people above. I suppose it doesn¡¯t matter much, Mark thought, they have their mission and we have ours. Mark looked at the mini-map. The crawl was coming to an end. Soon they would reach the mechanical room.


    The tunnel continued, but a very short branch went into the mechanical room. According to Captain Bukowski¡¯s map, the tunnel would start to narrow and become impassible. That wasn¡¯t their problem, this was their exit grill. Mark looked through the grill. Of course its a grill, it would be too simple to have a door or an opening or.... Behind him Jenfle crawled up and squeezed in beside him, she just barely fit. There was no room for Sunrise Yellow and Kleene the NPC guarded the rear.


    Jenfle sighed. In the room down below was a guy. That guy was sitting on the floor, happy as could be as he sang along to some music. In front of him was something mechanical. He had clearly taken in apart and was messing with the parts.


    ¡°He¡¯s not going anywhere soon,¡± Mark observed.


    ¡°Nope.¡±


    I don¡¯t see a gun, Mark thought,  he might just be a guy. Kill him or not?


    Down below the guy paused to stretch his neck. Quickly he was back to work. ¡°I¡¯d rather not kill him, ¡° Mark said quietly.


    ¡°So what¡¯s the play?¡± Sunshine Yellow asked. ¡°How do we get there from here without him sounding an alarm?¡± Sunshine Yellow paused. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want to kill him?¡±


    A few minutes later, SunshineYellow braced himself in the tunnel as best he could. Kleene was behind him as an additional backstop. Jenfle and Mark were tensed- coiled up like springs.


    ¡°Three, two, one, go!¡± When Mark hit go, the pair pushed off of Sunshione Yellow and burst through the grate. The flimsy aluminum grate went flying across the mechanical room. Jenfle crashed into the mechanic and sent them both rolling. Mark just crashed into the floor. He swore and swore again and then a few more times as he got to his feet. He was careful to keep his voice low, or at least tried to keep it low. From Sunshine Yelllow above there was laughter. Mark glared upward as he wiped a few drops of blood from his face.  In front of him, Jenfle had a wicked looking knife at the mechanic¡¯s throat. Understandably, the mechanic looked terrified.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    It took a minute to get Sunshine Yellow and Kleene down. ¡°Faster to dive, but safer this way,¡± Sunshine said as he climbed down a ladder. Mark had found the ladder in the corner.


    Jenfle had spent her time interrogating the mechanic. ¡°He¡¯s just some guy,¡± Jenfle reported, ¡°but he knows stuff.¡± She smiled. ¡°Go right out the door, not left, and there¡¯s a staircase we can take up. This guy says its faster than going the long way to the left.¡±


    If he¡¯s just some poor guy¡­


    Jenfle answered as if she could read his thoughts and where they were going. ¡°I trust him. Why would he lie?¡± Nobody spoke for a few seconds. ¡°I say we try his way. If we get there faster we can get in on more of the action. And I really need some X-P.¡± In the tunnel, Jenfle had complained about Flanni, her team leader, hogging the experience points.


    ¡°Sure, why not,¡± Mark said. SunshineYellow and Kleene nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll run point. Jenfle, keep close. We¡¯ll get you somebody to shoot at. Sunshine, you keep our friend real close. Kleene watch our butts.¡±


    ¡°Roger that,¡± Sunshine answered. Kleene nodded. Jenfle smiled.


    The team lined up by the closed door. Next to the door, Mark had his back against the wall. He was careful not to lean on the buttons- there was a small panel right next to the door. Slowly he pulled the door partially open. Mark didn¡¯t hear anything. He opened the door a little more, then a quick peek left and right. Nothing, time to go before something can happen.


    Mark slipped out into the corridor. Cement walls. Painted. Lights in the ceiling every so often. This wasn¡¯t a slipshod cobble together job.


    Jenfle slipped out after him. Slowly they advanced down the hallway to the right. A second later, Sunshine came out and immediately looked to the left. He always liked to check everything for himself. He gestured to the mechanic to come out.


    Suddenly, the mechanic slapped the buttons on the panel next to the door and charged into SunshineYellow. Mark and Jenfle spun around surprised by the noise of the collision, of the mechanics yell as he body checked SunshineYellow and they were very surprised at the alarm klaxon blaring.


    Mark swore, again. Jenfle didn''t hesitate. The mechanic was sprinting down the hallway away from her. It was too slow for how close they were. Three quick shots and three bright blood splatters blossomed on the mechanic¡¯s back.


    ¡°Can you shut that off?¡± Mark yelled. He could kinda see Kleene hitting buttons on the panel. Seconds later, the noise shut off.


    Sunshine Yellow was checking the body for loot. ¡°Not much,¡± Sunshine Yellow said, ¡°Except for this.¡± He held up a pistol.


    Didn¡¯t she search him? How the hell did they let him hide a gun and sound the alarm? Do I have to check everything? These are pro players, I¡¯m the FNG.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± Mark commanded. ¡°But we¡¯ll go the way we originally planned.¡± Mark took four fast steps before he stopped.


    He started to twitch and shake. ¡°Wha¡­.wha...what is happening?¡± His head was shaking left and right. His shoulders shrugged uncontrollably.


    ¡°What the hell?¡± the rest of the team stared at him.


    ¡°Was he shot?¡±


    ¡°Didn¡¯t hear anything. Trap?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Looks like he¡¯s getting electrocuted,¡± Kleene chimed in.


    Jenfle sudden lashed out and hit Mark. The helpless convulsing man fell over. The spasms didn¡¯t stop.


    What the hell!  Mark wanted to yell or say something but he couldn¡¯t. The pain, it was a million shocks all over. He could see his hit points. He took damage from Jenfle hitting him, but he wasn¡¯t taking damage from the convulsions. Not losing hit points didn¡¯t make it feel any better. Damn it hurts, it hurts, it hurts. He couldn¡¯t stop spassing. He couldn¡¯t do anything except feel. Mark didn¡¯t want to feel anymore.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Jenfle asked.


    ¡°We could shoot him,¡± Kleene offered. Jenfle and Sunshine turned to stare at him. Kleene shrugged, ¡°put him out of his misery?¡±

 38. LOVE PROBLEMS

    <h1 class="western">LOVE PROBLEMS </h1>


    ¡°I don¡¯t even know where to look.¡± BK was the newest guy on the team. ¡°There are so many things to look at, to do.¡± He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.


    Billy Long Hair laughed. ¡°I bet you never thought it would be like this.¡± He gestured expansively at the screens. ¡°A million camera views, the complete world of RX6 and the war against the Tu¡¯Cons, all at your finger tips.¡±


    They were sitting in the ready room, the hub of Team Bloop¡¯s work-space complex. This ready room was a place where the whole team could meet or work or relax. There were couches, desks, a table and ALOT of monitors. There were also 3 large glass walls. This was a fishbowl of a room.


    One of the glass walls let them see into the data center. It was a wonderful view of servers. Some big, some small, lots and lots of computers. Lots and lots of computing power, BK thought, enough to run a small city. Maybe a large one.


    Another glass wall gave them a view of the VR capsules. Maybe I should try to be on the playing squad next year. BK had played before on his own and had been one of the VR testers for this team. Janet loved that BK was the same size as Flanni who in turn was the same size as Mark. Instead of being a guinea pig, I could be the main event.


    The third glass wall showed work rooms and a short hallway to the bathroom and some crash rooms- bed rooms to catch a quick nap when you were pulling an all nighter or an all weekender. Dahlia¡­Oh no, did I say that out loud? He looked around the room. Both Billy Long Hiar and Billy were watching the monitors. They didn¡¯t hear anything. BK was relieved, there had been some drama with Dahlia and Billy. Just Billy, not Billy Long Hair. But Dahlia¡­


    It had been the first time BK had slept in the same room as a woman. It had happened a couple of months ago. BK just needed some sleep. They had been working all weekend and Momma Robin sent him to bed for a few hours nap. BK had just closed his eyes when Dahlia walked in. There was a nightlight in the room. It wasn¡¯t much light, but it was enough that BK could see her pull her shirt off. He could see her lacy bra. He didn¡¯t dare breath and let her know he was awake and peeping. She turned and much to his dismay, and relief, her back was to him when her bra came off. The image of her, what he had seen, was burned into his brain. Dahilia crawled into her cot and was quickly asleep. It had taken much much longer for BK to fall asleep.


    ¡°YO HO!¡± Billy Long Hair exclaimed. On the main game monitor Angie just made a headshot. On this monitor gaming data showed:


    Head Shot --- Marksman Bonus ¨C - Critical Hit


    ¡°Wow,¡± Billy said. BK, Billy, Billy Long Hair, we shouldn¡¯t have any more B¡¯s on this team.


    Billy Long Hair turned to him. ¡°Angie started out like you did, testing the VR capsules. She was pretty good at the game. But they needed her as an engineer more than they needed a squad player.¡±


    ¡°Thank God,¡± Janet chimed in. She was sitting at a desk staring at server data as it scrolled across her screen. ¡°she is a damn good engineer.¡±


    ¡°Hope she remembers us when she makes it big.¡±


    Hope she remembers me, BK thought.  I hope they all remember me. And need me. He zoned out a little bit. At this moment, only Janet, Trevon and Dahlia were officially on duty. Momma Robin too, but she was never off duty. Bill and Billy Long Hair always seemed to be around also. Some members of the team were catching a few hours of sleep. I¡¯ll nap when Dahlia does¡­ Other team members were exercising or getting food or something. Maybe I should get something to eat. Never know when the game will take a break and we are all working crazy.


    ¡°I miss anything?¡± Momma Robin asked as she walked into the room. She scanned the area, health telemetry, data, monitors, people, everything.


    Billy answered, ¡°BK here is going through information overload.¡±


    ¡°I am not,¡± BK said defensively. ¡°There¡¯s just a lot of stuff to keep watching. Game feeds from a million teams. There¡¯s data, health info, server status, there¡¯s a lot of stuff.¡± Including everybody in their underwear. I could go a lifetime without seeing Billy Long Hair in his tighty-whites. The ladies though.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget the drama,¡± Billy Long Hair said.


    ¡°Oh, the drama,¡± Rachel laughed as she came into the room. BK¡¯s eyes were instantly glued to the short blonde haired beauty. Well, maybe not model beauty, but I liked her. Nice boobs and¡­ She was carrying two strofoam dinner boxes. She dropped them over Bill Long Hair¡¯s lap. He snatched them out of the air.


    BK couldn¡¯t help but stare as she peeled off her leggings. Long legs and sexy¡­This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    His thought was interrupted as Rachel spoke. ¡°These are my tame undies.¡± The were high cut to show off her legs all the way up. ¡°Don¡¯t have a stroke when you see me in my sexxxxxxy undies.¡± She laughed, but it wasn¡¯t unkind.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Billy Long Hair said to BK, ¡°there¡¯s nothing really that sexy about her. Kinda average really. Maybe a bit below.¡±


    BK felt his face burning up. He must be red as a beet. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, BK chanted in his head.


    Rachel dropped onto the couch, practically in Bill Long Hair¡¯s lap. She hit him. ¡°You take that back right now!¡± She hit him again, hard. He laughed. ¡°Nothing special for you tonight.¡± She turned away form him with a pout.


    Billy and Momma Robin laughed. Janet even looked away from her computer and chuckled at the couple. BK was staring pointedly at the game monitor. Angie shot somebody else. The data appeared on the bottom of her screen. Many gamers, including Angie and Mark, shut off the blow by blow data info. It was easier to immerse yourself if you weren¡¯t constantly seeing system messages. For the people in the ready room, it was helpful to see. BK read Angie¡¯s data.


    Marksman Bonus ¨C - Major Damage to left arm


    Another monitor showed SouthHaven slapping some explosives on a door.


    Demolition Skill check passed --- Explosive Bonus ¨C -


    In the real world, Billy Long Hair would have failed his charisma check. ¡°OK, OK, you win. I¡¯m sorry you are ver ver ver very sexy.¡± He turned to BK. ¡°Right BK?¡±


    ¡°BK just got out of this,¡± Rachel hit Bill Long Hair again. ¡°Don¡¯t drag him into your mistake.¡± She savagely pulled her dinner box away from Biilly Long Hair.


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Bill said to BK, ¡°in other drama news,  we have Mark crawling through tunnels to save pretty pixels. You got Angie and her ex and SH,¡± he used the current nickname for Southhaven.


    Billy Long Hair laughed as he opened the styrofoam to reveal a burger and fries. ¡°Who woulda thought that Angie, our sweet innocent Angie, was gonna be in a love triangle?¡±


    ¡°Not me,¡± Rachel said as she stole a fry.


    Billy continued ¡°And here. Here you have Janey worrying about servers- will they last,  and equipment,  when does the warranty expire.¡± there were laughs. Billy looked up at Momma Robin, ¡°you, Momma Robin, looking after all your chicks. And don¡¯t forget your slut sister and her friends.¡± There was more laughter. But Momma Robin wasn¡¯t laughing. She wasn¡¯t even looking at the group. ¡°What?¡±


    Momma Robin was looking at the server room. Her voice was puzzled. ¡°Dahlia and Trevon making out in the server room.¡± She thought for a second. ¡°This is new.¡±


    Everybody spun around to look. Billy couldn¡¯t see from the seat he was in, so he stood up. ¡°Hell!¡± He started to slowly move towards the server door. He accelerated with each step.


    Billy and Dahlia broke up a few weeks ago. That was tense. I guess he doesn¡¯t approve.


    ¡°It¡¯s OK Billy. You guys broke up.¡± Momma Robin was the voice of reason.


    Billy looked back over his shoulder and yelled as he tried to rip the door off his hinges. ¡°Soda!¡±


    ¡°What?¡± BK asked. Everybody saw it. The cup of soda perched on the edge of the server. This server was a half rack. Unfortunately half-racks made great tables. Even more unfortunate was Trevon leaning against the server, inches from the soda, as he pulled Dahlia closer into his embrace. Other times it would have been sweet, a passionate kiss, young love- or at least lust. Now, however, now it was a train wreck in slow motion.


    When the door banged open, Trevon and Dahlia jumped apart. ¡°NO!¡± Billy yelled.


    ¡°Billy!¡± Trevon yelled. The next words Trevon said were ¡°Oh shit!¡±


    All words were too late. Somewhere between Trevon and Dahlia, one of them hit the soda cup. It fell down. The lid popped off and a large soda erupted all over the place. Murphy¡¯s Law was in full effect.


    The arcing and sparking was immediate.


    BK looked at Momma Robin. She was swearing like a sailor. BK followed her eyes to a monitor. That¡¯s weird. The health telemetry for Mark was going crazy.


    Janet was streaming words like she was competing with Momma Robin in a swear-off. BK could see that the data stream on Mark¡¯s capsule and server was going crazy.


    ¡°What the hell Billy?¡± Trevon yelled. He looked around. Dahlia looked horrified. Billy had stopped dead in his tracks. On the other side of the wall Billy Long Hair, Jasmine and BK stared in horror.


    Momma Robin swore again and dashed out of the server room and to her main monitor. Janet watched her go. It took her half a heartbeat to see the health telemetry. It took another half heartbeat to sprint to the data monitors. Both health and data were terrifyingly bad.


    ¡°What?¡± Trevon asked in a quieter voice. He looked down at the sugary watery mess. His muth moved, but no words came out.


    Before he could say anything alarms started sounding in the room. Huh, the alarms should really go off as soon as there¡¯s a problem, not 3 seconds later.


    Almost everybody scrambled to do something. Do something! BK thought. Everybody was scrambling to do something, except Trevon, Dahlia and him. People were stumbling out of the nap rooms to help. Paper towels? No time.. BK pulled off his shirt and started trying to get the rest of the soda cleaned up from the top of the server. Trevon and Dahlia came up to the server. They were horrified.


    BK had to speak loudly to be heard over the alarms, but he was curious. ¡°Did you kill them?¡±

 39. ASSAULT PROCESS

    <h1 class="western">ASSAULT PROCESS</h1>


    BERNARD  Guerrilla Fighter HOSTILE


    Juan D. Guerrilla Fighter HOSTILE


    Juan G. Guerrilla Fighter HOSTILE


    Antonia Guerrilla Fighter HOSTILE


    Angie knew that the longer she looked at the enemies standing there, the more information she would get about them. Right now she could only get the basics. Silent as Marley & Marley¡¯s ghosts, Flanni came up beside her.


    ¡°Could you make any more noise?¡± She ask him. ¡°You used to be stealthy.¡±


    ¡°I also didn¡¯t have a level 3 character with no skill points,¡± he whispered. ¡°What do we have?¡±


    In front of them was the processing plant- the place where Carmen and her rebels were bunkering in. The briefing said that the three story building was part factory, part packing facility. Stuff came in, got worked on and then readied for shipment off world. Angie had expected big and gray- generic factory building. Maybe there would be some windows to let a little bit of light in and save on energy costs. Inside it was one, maybe two levels with high ceilings. Kind of like the warehouse they had assaulted the other day.


    Her guesses about this building were close. Many factories didn¡¯t waste a lot of time or money on aesthetics, but this building had improvements. The outer walls were painted. Not just colors, there were huge murals. On one long side of the building was a beautiful beach scene. Waves, cabanas, a board walk, children playing in the surf and building sand castles, sunbathers, even a life guard. The painting was as gorgeous as it was unexpected. The other sides sported different murals.


    Marring the view were the four Guerrilla Fighters standing guard. Only Bernard was standing in the open. The others were behind some kind of cover. Angie glanced at the mini-map. None of the guards had black skull icons. A black skull meant the enemy was tons of levels higher than the player. These were just red, hostile, icons.


    Looking at the scene in front of her, she could see blood on Bernardo¡¯s leg. He was near some crates talking to Antonia. Antonia was crouched behind the crates. It was too far to hear what they were chatting about.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    BERNARD Guerrilla Fighter Sergeant HOSTILE


    Wounded. Limited mobility.


    ¡°Wounded,¡± Angie said softly. Some games would let you see each person/mob/bad guy/monster/creature/whatever¡¯s hit points and hit points remaining. This game just graded player¡¯s health by adjectives- barely wounded, lightly wounded, wounded, severely wounded, critically wounded. The problem was, wounded meant something different for Sergeant Bernard than plain old Guerrilla Fighter Antonia. One shot might finish off Antonia. It might take five non-critical hits to knock Bernard out.


    More observation time would get them more information. More observation time also meant they had more time to setup inside or escape out the back. Angie¡¯s team could observe two sides of the building. SouthHaven and his depleted team could watch, but not cover the other two sides. They needed the Southern Assault Team to watch the other side of the building effectively.


    ¡°Don¡¯t wait,¡± Flanni said.


    He doesn¡¯t want to lose out on more XP., Angie thought. IF we assault before Southern Assault Team arrives, more glory, XP and loot. It¡¯ll make the teams look better. More points from the judges. But it could give Carmen and Maresa and the suitcase a chance to escape.


    </a>¡°Assault Six this is North Assault.¡± Angie called over the radio. The captain¡¯s call sign was Assault Six. ¡°Captain Bukowski, we are preparing to attack the building. Request Southern Assault team accelerate and guard the back door.¡± Angie hoped she made the right call.


    Her radio responded. ¡°North Assault, this is Assault Six. Angie you are approved to assault in figures two minutes, I say again begin your attack in two minutes.¡±


    ¡°Northern assault begins attack in two minutes, acknowledged, out.¡±


    ¡°You are the hammer, Southern assault is the anvil and what is left of special detachment will pop up in the middle. Do your best not to kill the tunnel rats. Over.


    What¡¯s left of the special detachment? What the hell does that mean? ¡°North Assault acknowledged.¡±


    ¡°Go get ¡®em Angie. Assault Six out.¡±


    ¡°North Assault Out.¡± Angie turned the radio to the unit channel. ¡°We attack in 2 minutes. First shot assignments are coming. Everybody shoot at your target and charge. Heather, drop some explosives on them.¡± There was a flurry of people acknowledging. Angie turned to Flanni. ¡°Can you get a signal from the special detachment?¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Flanni was already checking on his system.


    Angie had run a check on her system. She got three signals- the missing signal was from Mark.

 CONVULSIVE ACTIONS

    <h1 class="western">CONVULSIVE ACTIONS</h1>


    ¡°This is a first.¡± Sam Kline, lead developer of Space Opera, wiped his mouth and stroked his chin.


    Henry Andle, co-owner of Space Opera, chuckled. ¡°And I thought we did some stupid crap when we were in college.¡± Henry was cheery as he spoke.


    ¡°Nothing like this,¡± Kline answered. He rubbed the back of his neck, just below the collar of his royal blue polo shirt.


    The were in Team Bloop¡¯s ready room. Jasmine Lens, project director for the Costa Brava scenario and this college tournament, was the third corporate person there. Sitting or standing, all of the main members of Team Bloop- the ones who weren¡¯t in the game, were watching.


    Janet, second in command of Team Bloop, asked simply ¡°so what can we do?¡±


    ¡°Good question, what can you do?¡±


    Janet looked to Billy as she spoke. ¡°We don¡¯t think we can fix Mark¡¯s VR capsule.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    Janet looked to Billy. Billy answered. ¡°His capsule¡¯s server is FUBAR. The data points to a cascade of problems.¡± He glanced at the corporate people, but then at the ground. ¡°The newest issue is there now appears to be corruption in the capsule software now and it¡¯s, well, the VR pod is FUBAR too.¡± He looked up at the corporate people again, his voice was hopeful. ¡°Give me a few hours to work on it and maybe, but it may also be scrap. I won¡¯t know until I crack everything open and I can¡¯t do that yet.¡± He looked accusingly at Janet.


    There were nods all around. The news wasn¡¯t a surprise to anybody. In the corner Dahlia shifted her feet, but kept her eyes staring at the ground. The small movement was enough for one or two people to turn and look at her. Dahlia didn¡¯t look up- she was too horrified about her part in the accident.


    Janet ticked off an option on her fingers. ¡°We could replace Mark¡¯s entire VR system. It would take some time, maybe an hour.¡±


    ¡°Are you proposing to use a stage two capsule?¡± Jasmine asked. There was a planned capsule switch for the teams. The corporation wanted to see how adaptable the VR systems and teams really were. In the real world, updates and upgrades happened, so they may as well happen here too.


    Janet nodded, ¡°yes, we would need to use a stage two capsule.¡±


    ¡°You would need to take him out of the game?¡± Henry Andle asked.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kline said, ¡°nobody would be able to do a capsule switch out without taking the character out of the game. The person has to physically move to a different capsule.¡±


    Jasmine picked up on the problem immediately. ¡°By the rules of this competition, Mark or any character, who comes out of the game, except in designated breaks, in this scenario is dead and disqualified.¡±


    Andle sighed. He looked as unhappy as Dahlia. ¡°We can¡¯t just kill him,¡± Andle said. Gis enthusiastic words gave hope. ¡°Too popular, people out there love him.¡± He gestured to the monitor wall. ¡°We are getting beaucoup attention.¡±


    Team Bloop looked puzzled.


    ¡°The viewership of this competition has gone...through...the...roof.¡± He got more excited as he talked. I mean astronomical ratings. Everybody wants to see this, ev-er-y-body¡± Andle explained. ¡°And your team is the top view at the moment. But team Powerder Puff Gs is a close second.¡± Kline scratched his head as Ande kept talking. ¡°PepMotion and Gold Rush are three and four. I think that is just spill over though. But your team is number one.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Why?¡± BK asked. Momma Robin turned to shush him.


    Andle waved his hand slightly. ¡°It¡¯s OK. It turns out Mark is a celebrity. Minor Celebrity anyway. The real celebrity is Gracie-Lynn.¡±


    ¡°Gracie-Lynn? The woman who is famous for being famous?¡±


    ¡°You got it!¡±


    There was head shaking and muttering from the Team Bloop people. Slightly louder than they probably intended one said, ¡°it¡¯s not fair. she¡¯s not changing the world.¡±


    ¡°Whether you think she is the GOAT or the stupidest thing ever doesn¡¯t really matter. She¡¯s gorgeous, she¡¯s a minor train wreck. Men drool over her and teen girls want to be her.¡± His usually excited upbeat voice got a little uncertainty in it. ¡°Mark was dating her or married to her or something, I don¡¯t know. All I know is that anything having to do with her is big news.¡± Andle was excited again, the Team Bloop people not so much.


    Andle continued, ¡°Mark, the ex-something, being in love with an NPC who might be a computer program is entertaining. Love triangles are always entertaining.¡± Andle¡¯s eyes were blazing with excitement. ¡°Seeing Gracie-Lynn¡¯s ex dating an AI? That¡¯s real entertainment.¡± His gaze panned the room. ¡°And people being entertained means more game subscriptions. And more game subscriptions means more...¡±


    ¡°But the rules Henry,¡± Kline interrupted. ¡°If they take him out for any reason¡­.¡±


    ¡°What about medical reasons?¡± Momma Robin asked hopefully.


    Jasmine answered, ¡°Right now, if you take him out for ANY reason, his character dies.¡±


    ¡°What if we didn¡¯t take him out?¡± Kline was speaking to himself. ¡°What if we left him where he is until the end of the scenario and then tell the teams its time to do the upgrade and capsule switch.¡±


    ¡°Can we do that?¡± Andle asked, ¡°You¡¯re always telling me what we can¡¯t do. Will it wreck the story line?¡±


    The members of Team Bloop just watched as the company people debated.


    Forgotten in the corner, two camera people were recording everything. One of them stayed focused on the company people. The other was getting B-Roll shots- everything from Dahlia looking miserable to BK¡¯s puzzled look. He got shots of monitors and displays, even extra shots of the game monitor that showed Mark convulsing in the corridor. One of his favourite shots was Trevon sitting alone and dejected on the floor of the server room. He had a tablet in his hands, but the cameraman doubted he was actually seeing anything on the screen.


    Although everybody was listening to the discussion, Andle still raised his voice to include everyone in the room. ¡°So, that¡¯s what we¡¯ll do. Leave Mark in situ until this mission is over and then we do the update switch over.¡±


    Jasmine fixed Janet with a glare. ¡°The only thing keeping you from being disqualified totally is a quirk of popular opinion.¡±


    ¡°Fickle popular opinion,¡± Kline added, ¡°if you get my drift.¡± There were nods from the Team Bloop people.


    ¡°And none of this is broadcast or released or talked about or leaked unless Henry, Jasmine or I approve it,¡± Kline was looking at Craig. Craig was one of the reporters covering the tournament. He was a college kid who might be in over his head.


    ¡°NOBODY breathes a word of this to anybody until we say so,¡± This was directed to the members of Team Bloop. ¡°Got it?¡±


    Team Bloop gave nods. ¡°Not good enough, I want to hear you say it. DO you understand, not a word of this to anybody?¡±


    There was a chorus of ¡°yes¡± and ¡°I understand.¡±


    ¡°And permission to speak about this may never come. You might take this secret to the grave.¡± Everybody nodded.


    ¡°Uh,¡± BK started to speak, but Momma Robin nudged him and spoke up herself.


    ¡°One more request.¡± Nobody, except maybe BK had any idea what she was asking for. ¡°Can we do anything to ease Mark¡¯s situation?¡±


    ¡°Is he still awake? And being electrocuted?¡± Craig was incredulous.


    ¡°Are you kidding?¡± Andle asked.


    Janet answered guiltily, ¡°we, um, didn¡¯t want to break any rules, so we did nothing.¡±


    Andle looked at the game monitor. Then he looked at his smart watch. ¡°For the last 30 minutes he¡¯s been getting shocked?¡±


    Janet nodded.


    ¡°Is he alive?¡±


    ¡°Alive and conscious,¡± said Momma Robin, ¡°according to the health telemetry.¡± Her voice got pleading, ¡°we have to do something.¡± Her eyes went to the game monitor. Everybody¡¯s eyes went there. Every few seconds, Mark twitched uncontrollably.


    Janet chimed in, ¡°Sometimes the electricity makes the suit twitch.¡± Kline and Jasmine looked at her. Janet continued. ¡°Sometimes it makes him twitch.¡±


    Andle was transfixed looking at the screen. ¡°And he feels everything?¡±


    BK turned up the volume on the game monitor. Based on the sounds Mark was making, nobody doubted that Mark could feel it.

 INSIDE THE PROCESSING PLANT

    <h1 class="western" style="font-style: normal"> </h1>


    <h1 class="western">INSIDE THE PROCESSING PLANT</h1>


    Mark is dead. The fact bummed Angie out. A lot.  Maybe not dead, but left for dead, Angie remembered the conversation with the tunnel rats. But the rats were pretty sure he was dead. And his icon is off the screen. No reported status. Maybe he¡¯s just out of range? No, couldn¡¯t be. He¡¯s dead.


    She pushed the thought out of her mind. Right now she had to focus or she¡¯d be dead too. There would be time later to sort out her thoughts and feelings.


    The explosion helped her focus. It wasn¡¯t a huge explosion, it was a controlled charge to blast the door open. Flanni and Suthhaven and Mike all agreed that it would be better to blow the door than mess with a lock. ¡°Uh, shrapnel will take out anybody on the other side of the door,¡± Mike said.


    As soon as the door was blown, Southaven and Flanni were through the door shooting. Then Angie went through and to the left. Her helmet switched to infrared. Using the heat maps, she looked for a a target, Nothing obvious, she thought. There were some small heat traces. Rats or people? In this game it could be either.


    ¡°Everybody must be under cover,¡± Flanni said.


    ¡°Advance,¡± Angie ordered. Flanni and Southhaven went first. As more of their soldiers came in, they fanned out and started advancing. This was a big factory or warehouse or processing plant or whatever. This end was full of crates- beautiful places to hide. As the smoke cleared she switched her visor back to normal.


    Everybody went to ground when there was another explosion. ¡°Report,¡± Angie ordered. She raised her voice to cut through the moaning on the intercom channel.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°Booby trap,¡± a voice reported. Angie glanced at the status bar Ocean Blue, team Crayons. The report continued, ¡°Red is hurt bad.¡± Team Crayons has Nectarine Orange, Sunrise Yellow, Ocean Blue and Red. Isn¡¯t Red the squad leader?


    ¡°Do what you can for Red. Stabilize him and then join the advance,¡± Angie instructed. Red¡¯s icon on the mini-map was blinking yellow and red. Quickly she called Red¡¯s status. In her mind she could picture Flanni laughing that ¡°Red was coding red.¡± Jerk, she thought.


    Red¡¯s had a disabled foot, burns, concussion damage, shrapnel, he was hurt bad. Angie closed the status.


    ¡°Catwalk,¡± Southhaven said. ¡°Mike, Sunrise and I can do a repeat of the warehouse.¡± Sunrise Yellow was on team Crayons.


    ¡°Hope we don¡¯t break anymore crayons,¡± Flanni whispered on a private intercom channel.


    Angie ignored Flanni and looked over at the side wall of the building. There was a catwalk high up above that ran the length of the building. A glance at the opposite side of the building- there was one on each side, but this one was closer. The tracks up there probably supported a crane that could traverse the building.


    ¡°Do it.¡± Angie moved up to take Southaven¡¯s place.


    Abruptly, the firefight began. The rebel fighters had cover and didn¡¯t have to move. Angie¡¯s team had superior fire power and soon they would have the high ground. They were also players. The rebels were NPCs. Most NPCs had simple AI. Only a few, like Carmen and Marina had advanced AI.


    Angie fired as she dashed from crate to crate. Flanni shot somebody before a flurry of bullets drove him back behind cover. When Angie reached him there was the sound of shooting, a LOT of shooting and a couple of grenades over in the direction Southaven and Mike had gone. Sunrise Yellow¡¯s icon started blinking green and yellow. Then it went black.


    It didn¡¯t take a genius to know something was coming, and Flanni didn¡¯t disappoint. ¡°That team is gonna be pissed that you keep breaking the Crayons.¡±

 41. ON THE CATWALK

    <h1 class="western">ON THE CATWALK</h1>


    Mike and Southhaven were firing up towards the catwalk. Sunrise Yellow was busy bleeding as he crawled for cover. Somebody was already up there and they didn¡¯t want company. Sunrise Yellow had insisted on going up the ladder first. When the bullets came down, he was hit first and fell first. Then the grenade came down. Mike and Southhaven got back in to cover in time. They started shooting up, but the target wasn¡¯t making it easy. Another grenade came down. Again Mike and Southahven ducked behind crates. Sunrise Yellow didn¡¯t make it to cover.


    ¡°Do you see anything?¡± Southhaven asked.


    ¡°Uh, I think they are up to the left of the ladder,¡± Mike replied. ¡°But, uh, I can¡¯t quite see him.¡±


    Somebody peeked out from the right side of the ladder and fired at them. ¡°So much for the left,¡± Southhaven said.


    Mike gave a half smile when somebody popped out from the left and opened fire. Both men were crouched down behind the crate. Splinters of wood arced over the edge of the crate.


    ¡°OK, you were half right,¡± Southhaven admitted. The shots crashing into the crate were slow and steady. ¡°I wish we had a sniper or a rocket or something.¡±


    ¡°Uh, Sunrise had mini rockets.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s dead,¡± was Southhaven¡¯s matter of fact reply.


    Mike peeked around the edge of the crate., looking at Sunrise Yellow¡¯s body. Immediately he pulled back. A burst of shots had hit the crate. ¡°He¡¯s, uh, too far away.¡± He brushed off a few wood splinters. This crate isn¡¯t going to last forever. He chuckled to himself, I hope its not filled with grenades or something stupid.


    ¡°I think I can get them.¡± Heather said over the intercom.


    ¡°What?¡± Mike asked in surprise. Where the hell is Heather? He looked around but didn¡¯t see her.


    ¡°Just keep your heads down and let me do this,¡± Heather answered.


    ¡°Can she?¡± Southaven asked.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    He gave Southaven a shrug. ¡°Uh,¡± Mike didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°I guess so. Where are you? What are you going to do?¡±


    Heather¡¯s voice was determined. ¡°I have a grenade launcher.¡± There were more shots from above.


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget we¡¯re inside,¡± Southhaven said, ¡°and what¡¯s your skill anyway?¡± Please take hint, he hoped to himself. She didn¡¯t.


    ¡°And I haven¡¯t had a chance to do anything,¡± she complained, ¡°so I¡¯m doing this.¡±


    The guys heard the thump of the grenade launcher. In the midst of the noise of battle, they probably only heard it because they were listening for it. Most of the combatants didn¡¯t have a clue until the grenade hit the catwalk ladder and exploded.


    ¡°Dammit,¡± Heather¡¯s voice was full of disappointment. The grenade landed a meter or two below the platform. By the grace of God it hit a rung and exploded. If it had ricocheted...


    ¡°That¡¯s okay,¡± Southhaven began, ¡°you don¡¯t have to...¡±


    Another thump. This one was on target-it hit one of the crates on the catwalk. For the moment there were no more shots from up there.


    Southhaven swore. He and Mike had rushed forward and were now standing there, looking up at the ruined ladder. The first grenade had well and truly wrecked the ladder. Southhaven swore again. There would be no sniping form the catwalk today. They had wanted to do exactly what the rebels up above had done.


    A tingle, a sixth sense, a premonition, a successful skill check made both men suddenly turned and aim. Neither shot. It was Heather running up to them.


    ¡°I wanted to join you,¡± Heather explained her arrival.


    ¡°You, uh, need to say something. Otherwise we might have killed you,¡± Mike explained back at her.


    ¡°Sorry...¡± her apology was cut off as shots rang out from above. They rushed to cover. There was another big stack of crates for them to hide behind. She reloaded the grenade launcher.


    ¡°No,¡± Southaven quickly said. ¡°We¡¯ll find another way.¡± HE didn¡¯t have any ideas. Softly he said ¡°or just wait them out. Dammit! I can¡¯t believe somebody is alive up there.¡±


    ¡°What about that ladder?¡± Heather asked. Southaven and Mike looked. About 25 meters down was another ladder leading to the catwalk.


    ¡°Huh,¡± Southaven grunted. Maybe she can be useful, just not when she¡¯s shooting.


    ¡°Uh, huh,¡± Mike echoed.


    Heather smiled a satisfied smile.

 42. CARMEN

    <h1 class="western">Carmen</h1>


    Angie and her team moved. It wasn¡¯t so much her team, as she was leading this team. Her real team was either dead or screwing around over at the catwalk. Fortunately, everybody was moving like they had trained forever.


    Angie and her battle buddy, iWinner from Team MYNdBendz- Southhaven¡¯s team, would lay down supressing fire. Then Flanni and Jonezzz, one of Flanni¡¯s squad, would move forward to cover. They would switch roles and Angie and her battle buddy would advance to cover while Flanni and Jenfle provided cover fire. Xxavier, team Southaven¡¯s squadmate in Team MYNdBendz and Jenfle, Flanni¡¯s medic, had tried to provide overwatch, but for whatever reason it wasn¡¯t working out as well as it should have.


    The leapfrog had worked well for most of the length of the processing plant. This time the move broke down. The rebels were waiting. When the rebels popped up to shoot, they didn¡¯t pop up where Angie expected. Her and her battle buddy were shooting straight forward, The rebels popped up more to the side.


    They nailed Flanni as he ran. His status bar immediately went red and started to flicker black. His battle buddy, Jonezzz, was flashing yellow and red. He was in serious trouble.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Angie and iWinner were able to react. A gout of blood from a headshot and the first rebel was down. iWinner, her battle buddy, wasn¡¯t as quick to shoot, but his aim was almost as good as Angie¡¯s. The second rebel was down.


    On the minimap, Angie could see Jenfle, the medic, was moving to Flanni.


    From the end of the processing plant, it wasn¡¯t that far away, came the sound of gun shots and then a slamming metal door.


    ¡°North Assault this is Assault Six, be advised that Southern assault has the processing plant surrounded. Somebody just tried to go out the back door. Two rebels down and at least one ducked back inside. Do you want southern Assault to pursue into the processing plant?¡¯


    ¡°Negative, assault six.¡± Angie responded. ¡°We are too close. Will report back¡­.¡±


    ¡°Marines!¡± A voice yelled out from the back of the processing plant. Woman¡¯s voice, Hispanic accent- it was Carmen. ¡°Stop shooting and we can talk.¡±


    Angie transmitted to Captain Bukowski, ¡°I will get back to you soonest, Northern Assault out.¡± Then she whispered over the unit comm channel, ¡°be careful, this may be a diversion.¡± Finally, she yelled, ¡°What do you want to talk about?¡±


    ¡°Angie, is that you? You are a tough, smartest of all,¡± Carmen shouted in her Spanish Accent. ¡°Let¡¯s talk, you and me.¡±

 43. THE TALK

    <h1 class="western">THE TALK</h1>


    ¡°No tengas miedo.¡± Carmen called out. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid, dear Angie. Step out here with me.¡± Angie could see Carmen step out into the open. Carmen used her hands while she talked, one of her hands just happened to be holding a submachine gun. The barrel aimed here and there, always carelessly wandering whenever she talked.


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°partidarios, there will be plenty of money for all.¡±


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°


    </a>¡°O podr¨ªa matarte ahora, perra.¡±


    ¡°Where the hell did she come from? She wasn¡¯t on the minimap the last time I looked.


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    ¡°


    Seriously, Angie thought, Daddy issues? The devs must be out of their minds.


    ¡°were


    Southaven and Mike clearing out...

 44. THE SHOT

    <h1 class="western">GUNSHOT</h1>


    Southaven looked up. The ladder looked sound. ¡°I¡¯m going up.¡±


    ¡°Uh, wait. I¡¯ll go.¡± Mike quickly said.


    ¡°No,¡± Southaven answered, ¡°I need you here. Give me covering fire. Then I¡¯ll cover for you.¡± Mike nodded.


    ¡°What about me?¡±


    Both men looked at Heather.


    ¡°Some more cover fire?¡± Mike proposed. Heather¡¯s face was hopeful, it soon turned jubilant.


    Southaven spoke, ¡°you could launch a few grenades to keep their heads down. Shoot...at...them.¡± He pointed back 20 meters up on the catwalk where they thought the rebels were hiding. ¡°It¡¯s the only decent cover up there. Just shoot there.¡± Don¡¯t shoot me, he thought but didn¡¯t say, don¡¯t blow up the ladder or blow a hole in the catwalk that I have to cross. In fact I¡¯d rather you didn¡¯t do anything, but you won¡¯t listen anyway and Mike is enabling you and, hell!


    ¡°Ok,¡± she said.


    He took a deep breath and another. ¡°One, two, THREE!¡±


    Mike popped up and began shooting at the crates on the catwalk. Three round bursts, just like the game¡¯s AI tutorial taught him when he was a kid. A constant stream of three round bursts.


    Southaven ran for the ladder. He let go of his own rifle and the patrol sling held it by his side. Hands on the rungs at head height, he started to climb. Nobody was shooting at him.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Mike was running out of ammo in his clip. He reached back with a leg and nudged Heather. She took her cue and popped up. Mike fired a few more bursts while she aimed the grenade launcher. The weapon¡¯s sight and the targeting on her visor¡¯s HUD painted a crosshair on the crate. She leaned into the weapon and pulled the trigger. CHUNK. The stock of the launched kicked back into her shoulder. The grenade spat out.


    It missed the crates, her aiming point, but hit the wall and exploded only two meters in front of the crates. ¡°Yes!¡± she shouted. She blew a big hole in the wall that she hit.


    ¡°That will, uh, keep their heads down,¡± Mike said.


    Mike popped up and started shooting again. Heather didn¡¯t bother ducking down. She just started reloading. Without looking, she just grabbed a grenade round and shoved it into the weapon.


    Southaven was scampering up the ladder like his life depended on it. His life probably depended on it. At the very top, he half jumped, half threw himself onto the catwalk. He could see shots hitting the crates, but there was darkness behind. Light that was streaming in through the hole in the wall messed with his vision. His hands automatically grabbed his rifle and were bringing it to bear. ¡°Helmet, infrared,¡± he commanded.


    A grenade hit with a firey explosion. A very firey mess. A splatter of fire and burning fuel landed a meter in front of him. Incendiary? Who the hell would shoot an incendiary this close¡­ The answer was clear. Heather. Probably thought she was helping. The tolerant thought was instantly replaced by angry thoughts. The firey mess ruined his infrared view. Everything was white hot. Almost everything. A dot wasn¡¯t.


    What the hell?  He flipped modes. Through the firey screen he saw it. The menacing muzzle of a gun barrel. Everything was in slow motion. Southaven tried, but couldn¡¯t get his weapon on target. He tried to pull the trigger. Vague suppressing fire was better than nothing. Everything was too slow.


    The shot rang out. Southaven could swear that he saw the bullet exit the gun. Impossible, he thought. Then there was a searing pain and the world went black.

 45. MEDIC

    <h1 class="western">MEDIC</h1>


    ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± Angie shouted.


    Nobody answered her. Carmen was on the ground, bleeding from a shot to her chest. A trickle of blood came from the corner of her mouth. On the mini map, her icon winked black and stayed black.


    Marina held the smoking gun. Like she was in a trance, or in shock, she stared at her half-sister¡¯s body.


    Southaven¡¯s icon on the mini map and the status were both flickering black and red. The black flickers were lasting longer than the red.


    There was shouting on the intercom.


    There was shooting in front of her. From behind a fork lift or some kind of machinery, a few rebels were shooting. Angie¡¯s own people started to shoot back. What the hell is happening? The paralyzing thought echoed in her head. Angie and Marina stood there like invulnerable statues as bullets whizzed past them.


    Time for paralysis was over. Angie took three quick steps and lept at Marina. The two of them tumbled to the ground.


    ¡°Fire in the hole!¡± With Angie out of the way, iWinner and XXavier tossed grenades. Both of them had better skill points and luck than Heather. The grenades arced over the fork lift and exploded. Shrapnel ricocheted everywhere. Two more grenades arced. The concussion from these could be felt through the floor and the air. It even knocked the forklift over.


    iWinner and XXavier came out of cover and dashed to the fallen forklift. On the other side were three rebel bodies. One of the bloody messes twitched, maybe he was trying to reach for help. iWinner shot him. He stopped twitching.


    Angie slowly got to her knees. ¡°Medic, Jenfle, get to Flanni and Southaven!¡± Neither had flatlined black. Both were close.


    Angie watched the status readout as she trotted to Flanni. He was closest. Flanni¡¯s status stabilized and then stayed more red than black. When she arrived, Jenfle was already working on him. She had applied ¡°stuff¡± from her medic kit. It wasn¡¯t like a healing potion where the patient was instantly, magically, healed. It wasn¡¯t like real life where a trauma center was needed to give him a chance at life. Space Opera was closer to healing potion than trauma center, but it wasn¡¯t instant and complications happen.


    Jenfle gave Flanni another injection of something or other. Flanni¡¯s shirt was ripped open. How come everybody gets shot in the chest? I made head shots but the AI rebels all seemed to get chest shots. Less fatal?


    Angie¡¯s thoughts were interrupted. ¡°Uh, Angie, we have a problem. We can¡¯t get to Southaven.¡±


    As quick as she could, Angie ran to the ladder. Southaven was still alive, but not by much. Jenfle had followed. iWinner and Xxavier could look out for Flanni now, and Jonezzz too. I keep forgetting about Jonezzz, he got shot too. Jenfle, the medic would be needed to save Southaven. How could both of them, both of them, get shot?


    ¡°Uh, every time somebody moves for the ladder, the sniper.¡± Mike paused and slapped a bandage on his arm. Angie watched. Mike¡¯s arm was bleeding. ¡°Sniper had me dead and took an arm shot instead.¡±


    ¡°Or they¡¯re a lousy shot,¡± Angie said.


    ¡°Oh he¡¯s good,¡± Heather said. She held up her grenade launcher. The barrel was ruined. ¡°She shot it Ang. Honest to God, he shot it on purpose.¡±


    Jenfle chimed in. ¡°We need to do something soon, Southaven is coding.¡±


    Angie stood up in the open. She keyed the loudspeaker in the helmet. She had never used it before. ¡°Don¡¯t shoot. Don¡¯t shoot!¡±


    There was a shout instead of a shot. ¡°Why?¡±


    Angie answered. ¡°Don¡¯t be afraid.¡± What a stupid thing to say, she thought. Out loud, ¡°Let¡¯s talk like friends.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°We are not friends.¡± It was a woman¡¯s voice. Of course it had a heavy Spanish accent. It also had a menace to it.


    ¡°Maresa, I have a wounded man up there and if I don¡¯t help him, he¡¯ll die.¡±


    ¡°Like Carmen?¡±


    How did she know Carmen was dead? ¡°I didn¡¯t kill Carmen. Her sister did.¡±


    ¡°That makes it better?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m coming up.¡± Angie started to climb the ladder. As she did, she sent a message.


    Team chat message from Angie: Nobody shoot.


    It was a good bet that every gun was aimed at Maresa. Nobody shot. Vibration on the ladder made Angie look down. Jenfle was climbing up behind her.


    Angie climbed up onto the catwalk. She had hr hands out showing she didn¡¯t have a gun in them. Her G-78 was slung at her side, but hands weren¡¯t need it. A single shot rang out. It whanged against the top of the ladder.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say she could come up,¡± Maresa said as she stepped out of cover and through smoke and smolder.


    ¡°I need her to save him.¡± She nodded at Southaven. At least its not a headshot. Another chest wound. ¡°His life for mine.¡± Maresa didn¡¯t say anything. Angie continued. ¡°I won¡¯t kill you.¡±


    ¡°No, you let me go.¡± She took a sidestep to the left, away from the open edge of the catwalk.


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Then I guess he dies.¡± Quick as a snake, Maresa was on one knee with a pistol in one hand and a grenade in the other. ¡°And if anybody shoots, we all die.¡± There was no pin in the grenade.


    ¡°Wait!¡± Angie shouted to both Maresa and her own troops. ¡°I can¡¯t just let you go.¡±


    Maresa spoke softy. ¡°You can and you will.¡± She casually shot at the ladder again. The message was clear.


    Jenfle had ducked back down. ¡°Angie, we need to do something now.¡±


    Angie sighed and keyed her mic. ¡°Attention all assault units. A...¡± she paused. ¡°A non-combatant is coming out. Give her safe passage.¡±


    Maresa whistled. Another woman came out from cover.


    ¡°I say again, two women are coming out. Give them safe passage.¡±


    The intercom exploded with questions. Captain Bujowski¡¯s transmission cut through them all. ¡°North Assault, what the hell is going on?¡±


    ¡°Sir, it is a military necessity to give them safe passage. I will explain later.¡±


    ¡°You better have a damn good reason sergeant, or I¡¯ll hang you. Assault six out and on my way there.¡±


    Jenfle was already up and tending to Southaven. She gave him a shot of whatever healing crap she had before she did anything else.


    Maresa and the other woman moved to the ladder.


    ¡°My commander is on his way here. If I had to guess, you have two minutes.¡±


    ¡°I be gone in one,¡± Maresa answered. She scampered down the ladder.


    Angie didn¡¯t pay her any mind. There would be hell to face when Captain Bukowski arrived, but that wasn¡¯t important either. Angie watched as Jenfle treated Southaven.


    ¡°Looks like both of your guys are gonna live, huh?¡± Heather laughed and nudged Angie with her elbow.


    Angie looked at her. ¡°When did you get here?¡±


    ¡°I climbed up after the skanks climbed down.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± If Angie had bothered looking out the hole in the wall she would have seen a truck driving away and from another direction she would have seen a jeep driving in. Both vehicles were moving at top speed. Angie¡¯s attention was on Southaven. His status had stabilized and through the miracle of Space Opera medicine, he was healing. He was going to live.


    Heather nudged her again. ¡°Which of the boys are you going to bring flowers to?¡±

 46. WALKAWAY

    <h1 class="western">WALKAWAY</h1>


    Blackness. The fuzzy return to consciousness after being asleep. The darkness which should go away when you open your eyes. That quasi darkness when you don¡¯t want to open your eyes. The room must be bright. You open your eyes and the shock of bright lights. Shock. The shocks!


    Mark bolted upright. He looked around. He was in a bed. Sterile plain surroundings must mean hospital. ¡°Where am I?¡±


    A woman was there. Momma Robin. Stupid name. She tried to be reassuring. He didn¡¯t hear the words, just the tone. She kept talking. Words broke through as she touched his arm. He flinched away and then stopped flinching. He was sore. Every muscle was sore.


    ¡°You¡¯re going to be ok.¡±


    ¡°What the hell happened?¡± He finally got the words out.


    ¡°There was a malfunction with your capsule.¡±


    He shuddered again. It was painful. Her light stroking of his arm felt good, but it didn¡¯t counteract the soreness. It didn¡¯t counteract the memory. He flinched again as he remembered the shocks.


    Again he looked around. A nurse was there. Or was she a doctor? No lab coat, just scrubs, it must be a nurse.  She was writing stuff down on a tablet.


    ¡°A lot of people want to see you,¡± Momma Robin said.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to see them.¡± He spied what he was looking for- his pants.


    Momma Robin¡¯s voice was soothing. No wonder they call her ¡°Momma¡±.  She spoke again, ¡°Everybody was worried about you.¡±


    Mark snorted in reply.


    ¡°Really, they are.¡±


    ¡°If anybody was worried about me they would have gotten me the hell out of there sooner.¡± He looked her in the eyes. ¡°Or not put me in a dam broken capsule to start with.¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The nurse spoke for the first time. ¡°It¡¯s my understanding it broke while you were in it.¡±


    Both Momma Robin and Mark looked at her. Momma Robin was not happy. The nurse looked back down to her tablet. Mark answered. ¡°I suppose that¡¯s a plus.¡±


    He swung his legs down out of the sheets and off the bed. ¡°Wait!¡± Momma Robin said, gently trying to keep him from turning. He put his legs down on the other side of the bed, away from her. Momma Robin glared over to the nurse like she expected the nurse to do something. The nurse had been looking at her tablet. She started to move towards Mark once she saw what was going on.


    ¡°I want to put some pants on. I¡¯m tired of being half naked,¡± he looked down, ¡°or fully naked.¡± Momma Robin and the nurse were both next to him.


    ¡°Mark, you might not be strong enough to get up. Let¡¯s get your strength up a bit first.¡±


    ¡°you said people were coming to see me.¡± He tilted his head to the side slightly. ¡°And I see you¡¯re not in your underwear.¡±


    Momma Robin gave him a wry smile. ¡°I was, they were cute too. I bought them special for this, but wandering around the complex,¡± her voice trailed off and she smiled at him. ¡°I get it.¡±


    Momma Robin grabbed his pants. Between the three of them they got him dressed. He spasamed a couple of times. The pain and soreness were real, this was not a game. He was stiff as a board. Finally he was standing on his own two feet. The women were closeby. His eyes were closed as he breathed away the pain.


    ¡°Mark, are you ok?¡± That¡¯s Angie¡¯s voice. A voice I never want to hear again.


    ¡°I¡¯m out!¡± He wasn¡¯t loud, but he was firm. He opened his eyes and started for the door. It would mean he had to pass her, but it was better than being trapped like a rat.


    ¡°You can¡¯t¡± it was the nurse.


    ¡°Mark, no¡± it was Momma Robin.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± it was Angie.


    ¡°I¡¯m out,¡± Mark said again. He strided as best he could. Each step was agony, but the fires of hell won¡¯t stop me. I guess the devil himself could.


    As he reached the door another man started to come into the room. Mark strode right past him without saying a word.


    Mark didn¡¯t see the look on Angie¡¯s face. He didn¡¯t see the man put up a hand to stop her as she tried to follow him. HE just went down the corridor to find the exit of the hospital. As he followed the exit signs he realized he wasn¡¯t in a hospital. That f¡¯n devil center. The devil himself wouldn¡¯t stop me.


    Mark left the building.