Colin POV

Sage and I soared over the battleground, where we were losing badly. We were outnumbered, even with our NPCs. Twice we swooped down, searing flame across the enemy lines, but all the while Sage directed Mr. Smokey toward the rear of the lines, where we knew Patriarch Kvaltash was waiting.

Her body was tense. I squeezed her shoulder. "Just focus on this," I told her. "One step at a time."

But I had the same counters and tickers in the corner of my vision, and the same fear gnawing at me. Gambler's Will stood at 12%. He had abandoned all of his defenses and was conserving what little remained for our final push. Our allied mind counter was flickering down one at a time as the invading Dominator networks seized control of more of our allies. Behind us, our base was being overrun.

Rok'gar was still sending out new reinforcements. "You need to get clear," I warned him. "Your soulcoin isn't integrated with the Dominators. If they take over..."

"I know," he replied back. "Same to you. Be careful."

Alpha reported in. “Sam and Rose have been captured, or so this asshole claims.”

I checked. Neither of them were responding. I knew they'd both been killed shortly before, and I guessed the Dominators had retaken their soulcoins. It stung, but there was nothing I could do. At least they'd be alive.

Sage pointed ahead. "There he is."

The Patriarch stood at the back of the battlefield, his arms raised over his head as he held a staff aloft, forming himself into a giant capital letter T. The staff was over two meters long, topped with a shining crystal that spun, emitting different colors of light. More Galactics were spawning in every minute.

"I don't know where Shad went," Sage said as she continued to look about while Mr. Smokey dodged missiles shot at us.

"Focus," I said. "He knows you're here. He's probably trying to come up with a plan. But we can't talk to him just now. We've got to do what we can."

I sent a message to each of my gamers. "If you're captured, when you're safe and not overheard, I want you to give Williams a message.” I quickly told them what I wanted them to say.

They all replied back that they'd do as I asked.

"Good luck," Amber told me. "It's been fun fighting at your side again, and I hope I get the chance again."

"Right," I told Sage. "Let's do it."

She aimed Mr. Smokey sharply downward, and we came plummeting out of the sky. The Patriarch was well defended by a group of his own people wearing glowing armor with helmets that obscured their faces. They spotted us and raised their pole arms as we came in.

One shot a spell at us. It bounced off of Mr. Smokey's thick hide. We slammed into their group like a train crashing a mini, knocking them aside, aiming right for the Patriarch.

Sage had her lariat out. She whirled it and tossed. I thought for an instant she'd missed as it shot out a foot from the Patriarch's torso, but I realized as she pulled it back and the staff came with that she'd hit her target perfectly. The staff leapt to Sage's hand.

"Do it, Gambler," I shouted. "Whatever it is you are planning, do it now."

Behind us, the fort exploded. A wave of shock raced across the battlefield, knocking down combatants on both sides. Mr. Smokey was sent whirling, unprepared. I threw my arms around Sage and held onto her as she clutched Mr. Smokey's harness and we went flying.

Another force wave hit us and I blacked out.

I came to in a white room.

It was either very large or very small, I couldn't tell. All around me was bright whiteness that obscured anything else. I looked down and checked that I had a body.

"Gambler, are you there?" I asked.

"Yes, Colin," Gambler replied. "Give me a moment. I’m bringing what remains of your team in."

That was an ominous note. I waited impatiently, staring around into the blank whiteness all around. Then Sage appeared, and I could breathe again.

"What happened?" she asked. "Did we win?"

I raced over and hugged Sage. She was still clutching the Patriarch's staff as she looked around. She returned my hug one-armed.

Rok'gar popped into existence. I let out a deep sigh of relief. I'd been worried for him. He glanced around and growled.

"If I am dead and this is Elf Heaven, I will be most displeased," he said.

A minute later, Amber and Pete appeared.

"This is all of the team I was able to hold onto," Gambler told me regretfully. "The others have been claimed by the Dominator network. They are all still alive," he assured us.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Pete sighed. "Whew, that was quite a ride."

The whiteness around us shifted and changed, taking on a blue tinge. A moment later, the blue took form all around, shaping walls and floor and ceiling with holographic lines. We were in a box connected to another box. Lines ran away into the distance, delicate and orderly, except where they were pierced by huge orange and black upside-down mountains that shot down from the ceiling. I couldn’t get a sense of scale at all. The mountains felt enormous, but at the same time the ceiling overhead seemed only three or so meters up.

"What are we seeing?" I asked Gambler.

"This is a representation of the emulation layer. Minds are not supposed to be here. Not even pieces of fragments such as myself. I am unsurprised you are having difficulty processing it. I apologize for not being able to give you a better context. We are essentially in the interface layer between the Dominators and the reality engine itself. When the Dominators attacked, the reality engine reacted by pushing up this layer as a barrier, but the Dominators took control and reached from there down into the levels at which we have been fighting.”

“Those are the Dominators?” I asked, indicating the black and orange protrusions. “Can they see us?”

“This area is usually beyond the vision of Dominator and reality engine itself. Thanks to the key the Patriarch had us, I am able to slip us in. As far as the Dominators can tell, we are gone. Completely destroyed and taken over."

"How much did we lose?" I asked.

Gambler hesitated. "Many of our allies willingly sacrificed themselves," he said quietly. "Others fought but a losing battle. I was able to preserve some portions of their memories and personality."

That was no answer and all the answer I needed at the same time. I bowed my head. "So now what?"

"Now," Gambler said, "it is time for you to turn the tables. The Dominator network is here. They cannot see us. I have good news and bad news.”

“Bad first,” Sage said.

“We did not steal the key. It’s still in Kvaltash’s possession. I wasn’t able to claim it. I did, however, make a copy of —” he hesitated. “You are aware of the encryption concept of a one-time pad? Where sender and recipient have the same list of codes to use, in what order, and they’re used once and thrown away?”

I nodded. “Sure. Heard of that.”

“Imagine that what we stole is a limited stack of those. Call them key tokens. I used one to get us here. I have a handful more we can use, but after that, we’re dry. We’re going to need to pull something else off.”

Sage rubbed her hands. “Then let’s get down to business.”

“We will be able to take control of one dominator, using our key token. Once we have the node, then it's going to be up to you to exploit that foothold."

"Right," I said. "Any node at all?"

"Yes."

I put together what I knew about the Dominator network from my initial briefings, our experience so far, and what the gamers had told me. "There are 12 Dominator hubs, each owned by a different corporation.”

“Except Proxima and Cygnus each have two," Amber filled in.

"Good to know. We'll avoid them. I want to completely take over something. Not anyone too closely affiliated with the Patriarch or with our own people."

"We were coming in through ports in either Proxima or Regelius's Dominator network," Amber told me. "The Patriarch is most closely affiliated with Cygnus and Deneb.”

Coyote said, “I suggest either the Andante node or the Ricaparian node.”

“Either of you know anything about them?" I asked Pete and Amber.

"We've run a few missions alongside Ricaparian," Pete said. "I don't think I know anything about Andante."

“They're fairly insular. I get the impression they've mortgaged their star systems to the hilt in order to afford this exploit, and they're starting to regret it," Amber said. "We crossed knives with them in that Dawn Wars setting a few months back, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Pete said.

I very much wished I could have a quick chat with someone up above who knew the political landscape better. Not Williams, but one of his people.

"Then let's take Andante," I said. There was no point in wasting more time.

"And so it begins," Gambler told me, as the world around us faded, and I found myself in a boardroom wearing a three-piece suit and a bowler hat. Sage stood before me in a skirt and jacket. Rok'gar was staring down at himself. His outfit was a match for mine except in pinstripes, and he had a red and white bow tie.

"What is this?"

"I'll be able to control the imagery better shortly," Coyote said. “Struggling here.”

The boardroom had a long table down the middle of it, and lining the table were surprised-looking aliens in business clothes. They weren't a species I was familiar with, looking like a space elf variant, four feet tall, completely bald, bright pink with pointed ears and big anime girl eyes. The closest to me rose, her face trembling.

"What is this?"

"This is a hostile takeover," Sage said cheerfully, striding forward and pulling out her lariat. "As of this moment, Andante Enterprises is under new management."

"You can't conduct a hostile takeover like this. There's been no signed declaration of intents. Where is your registered corporate documentation and attack forces?"

"Sorry, no time for that," Sage said. "If you'll all come with me, I'll take care of your exit interviews."

"We don't want word of this getting out," I told Gambler as Sage herded the small pink people into a side room.

"That is the idea," Gambler said. "Once you start taking action, it will be impossible to hide. But let us keep our enemies confused. Those were the chief level executives. The Andante prefer to conduct most of their business inside of a reality engine zone, because they have rather unusual life support needs. This makes it easier for them to interface with other beings. Sage is acquiring their soul coins now. We'll keep them locked up in an ‘exit interview’ until we're ready to allow them to be free."

"As long as we’re not hurting them."

"I appreciate your concern for these invaders." There was a note of sarcasm in Gambler's voice. Now he addressed me, Rok'gar, Amber, and Sam. "Let's get you all tapped in."

Before I could respond, there was a feeling like an entire river being poured into my brain and then zapped with a couple of gigawatts of electricity. A sensation too intense even to be called pain ran all through my body. I blinked as it faded.

"What the..."

But I could feel it now. I was tapped directly into the Andante Dominator and all of their network systems. I called them up effortlessly, another overlay on my vision. I could see everything. Their business dealings, their trades, their current deployed personnel. There was so much power at my fingertips, but I didn't know what to do with it.

"Gambler, can you find a summary of galactic law on reality engine exploits and download it into my brain?"

Gambler hesitated. "I don't think that's a wise idea. What I can do is give you access to the exact rule set agreed to by the Dominators for this exploit."

"Perfect." I rubbed my hands together. “But before you give it to me? I want it translated into gaming terms. We’ve worked together enough, you know how I think.”

Gambler actually grinned. He summoned a monocle from nowhere and put it on. “I think I can do that. Rule set download incoming.”

This time the sensation was no more than a pleasant tickling. I blinked as possibilities opened in front of me. I grinned. Oh, yes. This was going to be good.

Amber and Pete wore matching grins as they met my eyes.

"I think it's time we went to war on their turf."