As we retreated from the Journey to the West, I took a minute to review the reports coming in from our teams everywhere. I was a bit astonished by the sheer number of teams we had just messed with. Back when Juana had called for the vote on contribution points. I'd been surprised to see that we had so many people on our team.

Even the farmers were getting in on this action. We'd asked for volunteers during planning for this operation and found more than a few of the farmers were willing to charge in, even expecting to die quickly and horribly, if they could strike a blow for humanity. Now it was paying off. We had entire brigades of suicide bombers, or as Sage had insisted on calling them, Shad Dummies Mark II, who had charged into an enemy outpost before deploying a bunch of bombs from their inventory and exploding in glorious riots of noise and color.

They were flooding our guild chat channels with images of the destruction they had caused.

I got 14 of those orc bastards.

I got 7 orcs and 2 gnomes.

I took out an entire Nexus node myself.

How did you manage that?

They were distracted dealing with Wyatt's explosion at their gate. I snuck in and then did my best imitation of a quarterback returning a punt for a touchdown in the end zone. Just like how I won our high school season back in '13.

I was going to have to wait to get back to headquarters and ask Arjun for a total, but it felt like we had struck quite a blow.

I toggled over to the command channel. To my surprise, it was quiet. I sent a quick message: Done here. Where next?

There was no reply. I had a sinking feeling. I sent another message, straight to Juana: Is something wrong? And another to Grandpa: You read me? Neither of them replied. Panicking, I tried to remember who else was in our command channel. Nobody was replying.

Sage and I entered the tunnels together. She pulled up short as we appeared in the Kobold throne room. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"I don't know. The command channel's being quiet. I've got a bad feeling about this."

More of our victorious warriors were returning. They bumped into us from behind. "Hey, get a move on!”

“That's Williams up there. Give him a minute."

"What's going on, Captain?"

"Hold on a minute," I said. "Has anyone been through to our outpost since this all started?"

There was a series of head shakes from around the room. "Alright, everyone hold up here a minute until we can get an idea of what's going on."

I was tempted to pop through myself, but restrained myself. I was getting a little better at not just going with the first plan to pop into mind. I checked the chat. Again, nothing.

"I think something's wrong back at headquarters," I announced, and repeated it in guild chat for good measure. Cut all the chatter, guys. Anyone here at our outpost?

I waited, but there was no reply in chat. I sent a quick message to Veda and another one to Mama Grace. Either of you heard from Juana or any of the command team?

Veda answered back almost immediately: I haven't heard from any of you since the start of your operation. How's it going?

We did good, but I'm not hearing from headquarters. I think the enemy's launched their own attack and they've somehow got us locked down. How would they be accomplishing that?

I'm not sure, Veda confessed. Remember, I've never been involved with Phase 3, and this is a very unusual Phase 3. I can reach out to some of my contacts, but most of them aren't talking to me right now anyway.

I sent Ames a quick note: I've got radio silence from headquarters.

He messaged back: I know. Getting some intel from my sources. Proxima's made their move. They're trying to decapitate us.

Panic started to swell in me. Grandpa, Juana, are they all right?

Nobody has tried to remove the safeguards, Ames replied. So they aren't dead.

That was not nearly as reassuring as he probably hoped. Meanwhile, in the Kobold throne room, people were starting to get impatient. I turned to Frank. "Situation's bad. I'm trying to figure out just how bad. Can you run crowd control?"

He nodded and pulled out a whistle and blew on it hard. "Alright, everyone, listen up. We've got a situation here, and we're setting up a cordon around the portal back to our outpost. I'm deputizing—" He started pointing at random, and I turned back to my chat.

Sage tugged on my arm, her face white. "What about Grandpa? Is Grandpa alright?"

"I don't know," I confessed. "Ames says nobody's tried to change the rules on deaths, so..."

She gave me a nod and then threw her arms around me. I squeezed her back. Somehow I knew this was bad and probably going to get worse. We withdrew a little as Frank set about maintaining order. He had most of Team Ragtag with him.

I sent a quick message to Tall Smith. The Mongeese around?

We're just finishing up a decapitation attempt here in World War II. Took out all the opposing teams. Hitler is safe.

Well, great. I'm not hearing from headquarters. I think something's gone wrong, and I may need some firepower. Can you go out into Threshold and try to enter our instance through the main portal? I want to know how badly they've got it locked down. Your team knows how to think on their feet and stay out of trouble. Get me some intel so I know what I'm dealing with.

Roger, Captain, Smith said.

I turned my attention back to my chats. Still no word from Grandpa, Juana, or Mama Grace. I shot a message to one of Mama Grace's kitchen helpers, a woman who made a really tasty gumbo that I'd only spoken to twice. Is Mama Grace around?

Her reply came back almost at once: She went to deliver a hot lunch for the team at the outpost about three hours ago. I was expecting her back. We should be seeing the dinner rush any time now.

Let me know if you hear from her, I said. Oh, and what's the restaurant like right now? Who's there?

Almost no one, she said. It's a little weird. Like a ghost town in here. She gave me a quick list of names, none of whom struck me as interesting. And then, oh, and a couple of oddballs from the Free Human League. I know Grace doesn't like them in here, but I felt uncomfortable throwing them out. Warren and Lindsey Black.

I immediately composed a message to Warren Black. Warren, what's going on here?

There you are, he said. I've been trying to reach you, but you had me blocked.

Oops, I said, sheepishly. Sending a message to someone on your block list lifts it temporarily. I went ahead and took off the block entirely. I had blocked him off back when Waters' gang was trying to take out our people in the tunnels, since I couldn't trust myself not to say something stupid and give away more than I'd meant.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

What's going on? Is this Waters’ doing?

He's gone too far this time, Warren said. Lindsey and I have been done with him for a while. We just weren't sure how to make the break good. Now we are. I know you're not going to trust us, so I'm not going to ask you to let us in on your team, but we might have some intel you can use.

What are they planning?

Not 100% sure. Proxima's been talking to Waters a lot lately. Keep having him up to the hub for conversations. When you spiked their guns with that contribution point scheme, everything went quiet for a couple of days. And then Waters came back looking more pleased than ever. He's been recruiting from people who feel like they've gotten a good deal here. Mostly, some of the ones who were cured of cancer or old age and are feeling grateful to the aliens, and some that you and your team have managed to offend along the way. They were calling themselves a 'kill squad.'

If they've hurt my people, I'll... Words failed me. There was no threat dire enough. Nor was there one I could make good on. Who's their contact person?

It goes through Dreamwarden of Proxima. I know that. I've heard Waters throw his name around in a few conversations. But the deal was being brokered by Sicaris, that outfit we used to be working for.

I thought we handed their asses to them.

Well, they’re back now.

I copied and pasted the relevant information into a chat for Veda and Ames. Get on things on your end, I told them.

Already on it, Ames said. We'll handle the politics up here if we can, but you're going to have to figure out what's going on down there.

I turned back to my chat with Black. Does Waters know that you're done with him?

He knows we refuse to be part of the kill team.

You want to try to redeem yourself a little bit?

Absolutely, Black said at once.

Then I want you to get in there and see if you can find out what's happening to my people.

I did not mention that I was having Team Mongoose scout. No sense in giving over information that I didn't want Waters to have. Find out where they're holding my people and what they're planning to do with them.

Sage appeared from the throne room, wandering over to my dark corner. She tugged my sleeve.

We're on our way, Warren said. Keep you posted.

"What's going on, Sage?" I asked.

"I really wish you'd tell me, Shad. You've got that scary, serious look on your face, and I'm really frightened right now." Her voice shook a little.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't know what's going on. I've just been chatting with a bunch of people all at once, and it's hard to keep track of everything. I'm not trying to shut you out. We don't know what's happened to Grandpa and the others. I'm assuming they're all back at our outpost, and Waters' crew has got them locked down somehow. We know they're alive," I reassured her.

"Yeah, but he could be doing horrible things to them," Sage said.

"I've got a few plans forming, but we need information. Smith is on it and I just sent in Warren Black and his wife to try some spying. Ames and Veda are looking into things from their end. Proxima is behind it. Maybe we can sue them or something.”

Sage nodded. She seemed to draw in on herself a little bit.

Tall Smith messaged me. We’re inside our instance and heading for our outpost, taking a circuitous route. Your old friend, Black, and his wife just entered.

Yeah, they say they want to help, and I asked them to let us know what Waters is up to. Don't worry, I didn't tell them about you guys.

The outpost is still standing, Smith reported to me. It looks intact, no sign of visible damage. I can't see anyone from here. We're considering sending up Jones' drone, but there's a good chance Waters knows about it and is watching.

Let's see what Black says. Hold your position.

Veda messaged me: Dreamwarden is not returning my calls. I'm trying to talk to Sicaris' lawyers, but they're being stubborn. They say they don't talk to debt slaves.

I had a sudden brainwave and turned to Sage. "I think I have an idea, something you can do to help."

She brightened up right away. "Anything."

"Find out where our friendly Grignarians and the other privateers are right now. I haven't been watching their chat channels. Maybe go talk to them in person." It's almost certain that Waters will have overlooked them. They're not human, they're outside of his calculations, and maybe Proxima has forgotten about them as well."

Sage nodded. "Got it."

She scrambled up and made for the stairs leading to the exit to Threshold. I popped my head back around the corner and saw where Frank was managing the situation. We had a couple of thousand miners in our corridors now, all standing around watching.

I cleared my throat. “The situation here is not going to be resolved for a while. If some of you want to go out and do some spawn camping, that'd be fine, but make sure you set your respawn point to be here and not back at our outpost. You can do that by attuning at the throne itself." I pointed over to the other side of the room where the Kobold King's throne sat empty. Captain Kobold was standing beside it, holding his pike upright like a sentry. "Don't worry about Captain Kobold. He and I have an understanding. He'll let you get to it. Just keep your chat channels open, and if I say the word, you get back here double time, alright? We can't let them corner us. There's too much at stake here."

I got a ragged little cheer, and some of the miners got to their feet and began queuing up in front of the throne to set their respawn point.

Warren Black messaged me: Waters is here. He won't talk to us. They've got your whole outpost locked down hard. They've subverted it somehow. Got the turrets and such answering to them. Everyone I see is human. No sign of Galactics.

Waters had probably found another loophole in the rules. I swore. “Don't care what the rules say. I'm going to find a way to kill that asshole and get him out of my hair once and for all," I said aloud. Any sign of my people?

No. Waters won't let us in. Says he can't trust us.

So he wasn't a complete moron. Well, I hadn't thought he was. Alright, thanks. Stand by.

I went back to my message thread with Smith. Send in the drone. I want you to try to figure out where he's got the hostages.

Understood, Smith said.

I ran through all of my chat channels, catching up on the latest couple of messages, mostly just as a way to distract myself from my fears and worries. Ames wasn't replying.

I remembered how I had blocked Black, swore, went to my block list and unblocked Waters. To my surprise, there were no messages waiting for me. I debated sending one myself, then held off. He knew I was out here, and he must know that I had figured out what he was up to. If he wasn't talking to me, it was because he didn't want to. I would wait.

We've got the drone up, Smith reported. The outpost looks intact. No sign of damage. I see humans at various guard points, but I don't recognize any of them. Here are the pictures.

I didn't recognize any of them either, but that didn't mean much. I needed Arjun or Juana to look them over. I didn't like being the one trying to make the decisions here. I felt alone and ill-equipped for it.

Circling. One of the turrets took a pot shot, but we juked and avoided it. Sending the drone down in close. I'm buzzing the headquarters building. They’ve got the windows boarded up. Switching to thermal. Yeah, there's about 200 warm bodies in there. They must be packed in like sardines.

I let out a long sigh. Almost certainly that was where Waters was keeping Grandpa, Juana, and the others. Alright, thanks, I said. Call back the drone and stay under cover. Maybe move position.

You mind your business and we'll mind ours, Smith said.

Sorry.

I know you're worried, but worry about yourself and the hostages, not about us. Smith out.

I turned my thoughts back to what I was going to do. My mind raced frantically. I needed someone to bounce ideas off of, but all of my usual brainstorming partners were gone.

Sage sent a message. Found the Grignarians, talking to them.

Ames: Still no word from Waters or Proxima's lawyers.

Veda: I have a meeting with Proxima in 15 minutes. I'll let you know what they say.

Try to get Patriarch Kvaltash, I replied, as a brainstorm hit me. Are there any kind of intergalactic rules about prisoners of war that might come to bear on this situation?

I have no idea. I'll check with the Patriarch.

Ames messaged me: What are you thinking, Shad? You've been awfully quiet for a long time. My people down there say you haven't come out with a plan of derring-do which has them uncomfortable and me worried.

Well, sir, that's because I haven't thought of a good answer yet. Right now, my best plan is to charge in, guns blazing, destroy our own node, and then blow up the whole church full of hostages so that they respawn somewhere neutral.

That does sound like the sort of plan you would think of, yes, Ames said.

But it's a dumb one, sir, I continued.

Oh?

First of all, we set that rule about contribution points. If I kill 200 of our own people, then our coalition is suddenly in a world of hurt. I don't know if we have the money to pay that kind of fine. Does it all go straight back to us or...?

No, you're right about that. The fines are confiscated and placed in an escrow account until the end of this phase, Ames said.

Damn. So if I did that?

You'd wipe us out, Ames confirmed.

I knew it seemed like a bad plan. And not just for that. I kind of have a reputation for doing that sort of thing, which means it's what Waters expects of me. I'm going to come right in, do something foolhardy, challenge him to a duel, blow myself up. So I can't do any of those things. Not unless... I paused.

Unless? Ames prompted after a moment.

I don't have a whole plan here yet, I confessed. I'm thinking about it. I need some way to make my usual into the unexpected.

Don't try to triple-think yourself, Ames advised me.

Right. Well, sir, what do you suggest?

Me? I'm the man back at HQ. I give the general orders. You're the damn fool on the ground who's got to carry him out somehow. So get our people back. Keep us in the game. Find some way to kill that son of a bitch Waters.

Yes, sir!

I smiled to myself. It was good to have a set of objectives, even if I had no idea yet how I was going to carry them out.