A Beginner's Guide to Constructing Your Phase Two Outpost. Section 6.5: Networking

Interview Conducted by Colonel Jefferson Ames, U.S. Army.

Interview subject, War Leader Gek’tar Lothbriand of the Halfhand Clan

You may be tempted to think of the team events as a disruption, even an inconvenience. Don’t. They are the System’s way of trying to force an equalization when it realizes things are becoming too unbalanced. It often offers an underpowered clan their only chance back into the fight. Rewards from a team event can make or break a Phase Two attempt.

In addition, if you have even the most basic of diplomatic skills, you will be able to win allies or at least people willing to talk to you and share information. The alliances forged in a team event often last through a phase, an exploit, and even across systems. My own clan joined forces with a smaller clan ten exploits ago thanks for a team event. They are not even orcs, but lizardfolk!

But beware. Not all who appear trustworthy are indeed to be relied upon. And trying to bring an incompetent partner through an event may lead to disaster for you both.

I could still smell burning Grignarian as we approached the site of the ambush. The bodies were gone, but the stench lingered.

A thought hit me as we walked. Nobody seemed to like these guys. I hoped we hadn't just joined in a bullying attempt on the galaxy's underdogs. Well, we didn't understand the politics here, and I did know that I wanted my team to make it to the objective. That meant making allies and getting past this first stage.

I'd try to find out more about interstellar politics another day. Maybe when we Earthlings had the luxury of caring about such things.

I stepped out into the clearing as a orc with a chainsaw hand dropped out of the trees in front of me.

A bunch more orcs stepped out of the trees and with them a half dozen walking anthropomorphic animals. I'd seen lizardfolk before and somehow gotten used to them. These were different, about a head shorter than the orcs.

Two looked like foxes, including one with silver fur that I assumed must be the silver fox I'd been speaking with. Two were badgers. One was a raccoon and the last a snow white rabbit with tall pointy ears. They carried shotguns and wore plate mail armor.

"Well done, earthling," the silver fox told me. He sounded like a middle-aged gentleman, his voice melodic and refined. He bowed from the waist. "We have scored a great victory against our most hated foe today. Their team has been knocked from the competition. They will have to go back to their node and wait until the regular game begins again. They will not enjoy such idleness. It will make them consider their choices with regret."

"You really don't like these guys, do you?" I said, indicating where the Grignarian corpses would be if they had not just despawned.

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"Corpse eaters," the chainsaw orc said with disgust. "Carrion feeders. Children of dirt, not stars. Breaker of alliances. They have no honor."

"Right," I said. "Well, thanks for the assist there. I guess we just go away from here?"

The orc looked me over. "You are missing some of your people."

"Yeah, we lost a few," I said. I checked my respawn timer. "They should be up in seven minutes or so."

"We also," the orc said. "I am Ang’kar, by the way."

"We’re down three," Silver Fox said.

Ang’kar said, "Let us proceed together and collect our people. After that, we shall separate. We will agree not to attack each other for one respawn cycle. Past that point, it is not an alliance. Merely a set of honorable foes sharing a path for a time, lest we fall prey to the dishonorable."

"Sure," I said. Anything that made us more likely to recover Grandpa and the others and be on our way safely was good with me. "Everybody get that?" I asked my team. "We’re allies until the graveyard, then just leave them alone and go our separate ways."

Sage bounced forward, staring up at the rabbit. "We haven't seen any of your people on the hub yet."

"My faction has only just arrived," the rabbit said in a gentle feminine voice. She reached out and touched Sage's shoulder. "But you, are you not a youngling? A cub?"

"Sage is my sister," I said. "She's also one of our valuable team members."

The rabbit's eyes filled with compassion. "I understand. It is unfortunate when the Exploitation Committee chooses younglings. I am glad that you made it past the initial winnowing phase."

"Well, let's get moving," Ank’gar said.

I walked beside him as we moved off into the jungle. "Are you a relative of Mak’gar and his brother?"

"We are demicousins on our mother's sister's side," Ank’gar said. "So, while I do not owe you the same debt that he and his brother do, I am grateful. We are all loosely allied, and I am glad that he and Firebrand made out so easily from your encounter."

"Yeah, same here," I said back. "They could have caused us a lot of trouble on a different day."

As we approached the graveyard the screen became more crowded with blue dots. No one was starting anything, avoiding each other as much as possible. We saw other teams emerge from the brush, their weapons stowed.

The graveyard icon was a tombstone on my map. I wondered if they had pulled that from human iconography or if it was somehow common across the galaxy. The graveyard itself was a neat plot of land cleared of brush, with 12 headstones spaced around a small white chapel in the center. A black metal fence surrounded the graveyard.

As the timer ticked down to zero the system announcer popped up. First respawn. Time until Stage two begins: 17 hours 30 minutes. 18 teams eliminated from competition.]

"Wow that many already?" That had to be over a third of us. I was shocked and said so to Ank’gar.

He laughed. "That is always how these work. Some of the teams which take and hold nodes are well equipped but not well suited for battle. Once removed from their defensive places, they are little concern to those of us gifted with fighting. It is fine. There is a place for both here in the System."

"Sure, I guess."

Then there was a bright shining light and the graveyard filled with people. Humans, orcs, space elves, more animals like Silver Fox and his team. lizardfolk. Species I had never seen before and couldn't describe came pouring through the gate.

Nobody tried to start anything as people separated out into their teams. I saw Grandpa and the missing Mongeese. Grandpa had Lara in tow.

At the same time I got a message from Ice Spice. Where are you guys? I don't see you anywhere.

Shit. You must be at the other graveyard. You've got to try to meet us. Try to get as far east as you can so that if you're killed again you respawn at a different graveyard. I pinged my map. We're going to head south toward Scylla.

Okay, on my way.

"Let's get moving," I told my team. This temporary truce could break up at any time. Jones threw out his camouflage skill and we faded back into the undergrowth.