Colin POV

I thanked Gambler for the latest update on Captain Williams’ progress and turned back to my own work.

The strategy table was lit up in front of me, displaying our forces arrayed against our enemies as though on a game map. Hexagons filled the board, and twelve tall, dark game pieces resembling the Tower of Sauron stood scattered about. They weren't placed at regular intervals; instead, they represented each of the Dominators and the area they controlled. A virtual mapping translated to this 2D board for simplicity.

The hexes each controlled were shaded in different colors, but four of them now glowed white—our captured Dominators. Our area was contiguous, forming a large wedge of the map board. We didn't control quite a third of the area since we had taken down smaller and more vulnerable Dominator networks, but we did have the largest single chunk on the board.

Holograms representing my forces hovered over the contested territory. I could zoom in and see the immediate disposition. We had resources now I wouldn't have dreamed of even a few days ago: mercenary forces we'd hired, co-opted combat miners who thought they were still serving their own faction. My commanders were represented on the board. I had the gamer team scattered around and the few fragments that Gambler and I had managed to bring to this level commanding other forces.

We had Alabaster Sky up against a wall. Their last few outposts fell to us one after another. By waving a red flag in front of their faces that they couldn't ignore—the threat of waking the Sleepers—much of the Reality Engine exploit force had deployed deep into the bowels of the planet, leaving a remnant playing defense against an opportunistic attack. Since we were exploiting their own corporate ruleset, they had not figured out how to effectively counter us. Most of the coporations we had gone against didn’t seem to realize they were even under attack. Their responses were slow, uncoordinated, and reactive.

I didn't have reliable communication with our team. Coyote was handling the attack there, interfacing with Gambler only when necessary. We were hoping to keep our designs against the Dominators from rising to their attention. As far as Alabaster Sky knew, their enemies had taken advantage of the emergency to attempt some political wrangling. They were already lodging complaints to the council, but Juana had them all tangled up in legalese. With the fake complaints and motions she was launching, we'd keep the council too busy to notice what we were doing.

The only way we could possibly make this work was by splitting our enemies' attention in different directions. For that to work, I had to be laser-focused on my job.

I cleared my throat and spoke aloud. "Rok'gar, I want you to take your forces and move to hex 8B. Start pressing against the Ralian Consortium."

"Understood," he replied at once. He wasn’t here; the room was empty except for me, Gambler and General Twofeather, who scowled at me across the table. I was trying to ignore his obvious discomfort with the situation. He was letting me handle this, but now both his grandchildren were in danger, and if this went wrong, we could lose everything Earth had worked for. It was understandable that he'd be uncomfortable.

"Sage, as soon as you've got Alabaster Sky buttoned up, you're going to swing around to support Rok'gar. I am keeping our other flank clear with a series of bogus trades."

"Got it," she said cheerfully. She was in charge of all of the newly hired human mercenaries we had not sent down into the depths of the rogue world to play tag. She'd revealed herself, and the mercenaries had been enthusiastic about embracing her as their commander. For the past seven years. Sage had been both a mascot for Earth's forces as well as a valuable contributor. Everyone knew her, and everyone liked her.

Gambler was hovering, literally. He had levitated and was looking down at the table. I didn't know why he bothered keeping his avatar up if he was going to fly around the room with it like this, but I could tell he was nervous. "Don't you think we should be going against Cygnus next? They have a strong position, but they're central to this whole exploit. If we can crack them, it should be straightforward to—"

I held up a hand. "Gambler?" He shut up, and I kept talking. "You put me in charge of this because you wanted my expertise. You know this is my area, so focus on what only you can do. Talking to the Dominators, once we've— Oh, look, there." I interrupted myself as Alabaster Sky's Dominator fell to us.

Gambler vanished as his full attention turned to integrating their Dominator into our own network. I repositioned my forces, checking on the status of our mercenaries and planning out my next move in advance. If we encountered too much resistance here with the Ralians, we'd pivot toward Cygnus. If Ralia gave in more easily than we thought, I would take advantage of that to spring a trap for the other Proxima Dominator.

Gambler reappeared. He was beaming, and when he spoke, he sounded jubilant. "I was able to recover some intact minds from Alabaster Sky. Their Dominator had not fully subjugated them. They're wounded, but I'll be able to heal them if we actually pull this off."

"Members of our network?"

"A few."

"Anyone who's ready and willing to help in the battle?"

"I'll ask." His outline faded, and a moment later, three new fragments appeared in my assets list. I checked them over and gave them small assignments where I could watch over them as we deployed. If they were reliable, I'd use them more.

"How's the battle progressing?" Gambler asked

I filled him in on the details and asked for an update on Shad and the other runners.

"The last news from Coyote said that nearly half of our teams are down. We still have two real keys in the labyrinth, including that carried by Captain Williams."

Grandpa grunted. "You give my grandson a job, he's going to do it. I just hope you're prepared for what happens if he gets it to the center. I don't rightly like the idea of waking these progenitors and being dependent on their whims."

"But we must let the Galactics believe we're willing to do so," Gambler said. "Otherwise, they'll stop and look around and see what it is we're really up to."

Another Dominator fell to us. That made six now. Gambler disappeared to reintegrate it. General Twofeather looked at me from across the table.

"You're putting a lot of faith in an unreliable ally," he said quietly.

"I know. Gambler saved my life, and I'm grateful. And he's dealt fairly with us, but... you're right. On the other hand,” I shook my head. "This is his world. We're the invaders. If someone had come to you while you were trying to free Kronos from the Galactics and said, 'Yes, go ahead, fight as hard as you like, but don't do anything too dangerous,' would you have listened?"

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To his credit, General Twofeather thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Probably not."

"Besides, if the Progenitors really are this boogeyman at the center of the universe, sooner or later, someone's going to figure out how to wake them up and make them angry. The exploits have been going on for close to 20,000 years," I pointed out. "There are over 15,000 dominated reality engines across the galaxy. The Galactics were getting worried that they were running out of new reality engines to conquer. That's why they went after this rogue world. It's not the easiest place to take. What happens when the Progenitors decide they're tired of having their network co-opted?"

Grandpa nodded. "Might be good if we're on hand to offer our own explanation of what's going on," he said quietly.

Gambler popped back into the room. I was certain he was able to listen in at all times, even if his avatar wasn't present, and General Twofeather knew that as well. We hadn't said anything that Gambler couldn't have guessed. But as humans, it was more comfortable talking behind his back when he wasn't present.

I turned back to the board and checked my forces. We were doing well. We just had to keep this up.

Hours slid by. I lost track of how long it had been. At some point, Gambler conjured chairs for me and General Twofeather, and I sank gratefully into mine. He brought in refreshments as well. I was still getting used to having biological needs again and was glad it was Twofeather, not me, who first asked about a toilet. I wasn't really sure how much control Gambler had of this space, but he was able to provide us a facility for relieving ourselves. So, I guess he had enough.

We had nine Dominators now. Astonishingly, it seemed the Galactics still hadn't realized. Then, Sage reported back, her voice edged with tension.

"They’ve figured out what we’re up to. All of my people have just received threats. The Dominators are hardening, drawing back. They know we're capturing and not just attacking for territory now."

"We knew that would happen," I told her. "I'm astonished it's taken as long as it did."

"All my mercs want to pull out," Sage said. "Their sponsors are threatening sanctions."

Gambler interrupted. "Coyote is relaying the news to me. It's alright. We are working on legal cover."

"Yes, but I can't just force them to fight like this." Sage sounded tired.

"Get back here," I told her. "Everyone, retreat. Secure our positions, but I want the commanders here for a meeting."

Gambler opened a portal, and my team trooped through. The Gamers, Sage, and Rok'gar all collapsed into chairs. Gambler spawned four copies of himself and went around the room offering refreshments.

Sage accepted a tall, iced lemonade as I went to stand by her. She looked exhausted, her brow covered in sweat, her hair limp and frazzled. I rested my hand on her shoulder as she spoke. She looked up at me and smiled wanly.

"We're doing it, but it's so hard. The concentration I need is intense. I don't know how you're managing to control everything.”

"Abstraction," I told her, pointing out my game board and how I could zoom in and out as needed. "No commander in history has ever had this kind of insight into what his forces are doing."

"We need to break Proxima," Gambler said. He was back to a single body now, standing beside me, his hands crossed in front of him. He looked worried. "The Patriarch and most of the offensive forces are coming in through Proxima. If we take them down, their attacks won't be nearly as effective."

"Proxima's the strongest. If we take everyone else out first, they won't be able to hold out," Sage countered. "I say we refocus and throw everything against the Cygnus network."

I considered both suggestions. They had merit. "What's the status on the runners?" I asked.

Gambler sighed. "We're down to just Williams and four decoy teams. The Galactics are trying to set up ambushes at all of the entry points to the lower levels we can discover. We've just changed strategies," he admitted. "We're going to try to drop down into the bottom. We've got to take Proxima's eyes off the ball long enough to take this out. We don't have time to chip them away a little at a time," he told me. "Bring them down now."

"Alright," I said, seeing the wisdom of his words. "Team, ready for one final push?"

Sage finished her drink and got wearily to her feet. "I'll do it," she said. "Is Shad okay?"

"He's actually only died once all day," I told her, and she managed a wan smile. My team all looked as exhausted as Sage, but none of them complained as they got to their feet and disappeared back onto the battleground.

I directed the next wave of attacks. Now that Proxima knew we were coming, this was going to be hard.

We were being pushed back on four fronts, making progress on others. Sage and her team had pushed in beyond the rest when I got a high-priority message from her.

"Colin, we've been cut off. We're..."

Then nothing.

General Twofeather was on his feet. I whirled on Gambler. "Where is she?"

"Her mercenaries have been captured. Her soul coin is in the hands of Proxima."

I swore. "Get her back!"

"I can't."

Coyote's voice broke through. "General Twofeather, priority message."

Juana spoke, and Twofeather and I went tense. "The leaders of Proxima are relaying to me that they have Sage and approximately 3,000 of our people in their custody. They will not be released to us unless we cease our aggression immediately and surrender the Dominator Key." Her voice sounded strained and weak. "They're threatening if we don't comply, they will destroy their soul coins."

I turned on Gambler. "I thought you had Sage's soul coin."

He stared at me, no expression on his face. "They had been warned against us. The only way to crack their defenses was from the inside. So, she had to be integrated into their network."

I had known that. But I hadn't realized they might play for keeps like this. I smashed a hand down on the command table. "We've got to do something to pull her back."

“I can keep putting pressure on them from the outside. We may be able to win, eventually.”

"What are the chances you can do that before they kill her?" General Twofeather asked from across the table. His face was grey. His voice, though, didn't shake.

I let out a long, deep breath. "So... do we give in?”

General Twofeather was not looking at me. "She'd hate us if we ended this now. Where's Shad?"

Coyote answered. "His people have just reached the bottom level with the key. They're encountering resistance."

Gambler was wringing his hands. I could see him wrestling with a dilemma. Or letting me think he was. "I..." he began and shook his head. "No. I think there is one gamble we can make. But it's a big one. We're risking it all on one throw of the dice."

"Then do it!" I barked.

"I'll need to send you in to the holding pen where they've got Sage and the others. If it goes wrong, and Proxima flushes the pen, then... you're gone too. But there’s a loophole we can use. Sage probably wouldn’t think of it.”

“Fill me in and send me," I said, striding toward the portal he'd used to return our people to the battlefield.

"What about me?" General Twofeather asked quietly. "Colin's needed here."

"Not any longer," Gambler said. "We're entering the endgame." He sent me a quick data packet, the knowledge I needed burning into my brain.

“Oh, that’s going to be good,” I said. I met Twofeather's eyes across the room. “Sir. Let me do this."

He paused for only a few seconds before nodding. "Take care of her, son."

I stepped through the portal. I hadn't really expected to find myself anywhere. I had assumed the soul coin identities were being kept in stasis. Instead, I was in a crowded outdoor facility. The sun beat down overhead as I found myself in the middle of a holding pen full of other humans. Around us was a high, stockade wall with guard towers looking down. There were machine guns mounted atop the stockade, and featureless humanoids manning the machine guns. I was pressed up between a pair of men taller than me.

"Sage!" I cried. "Sage, where are you?" I pushed my way through the crowd, shouting her name. "I'm looking for Sage Williams."

Then, after far too long being jostled and elbowed in the ribs by other people, I heard her shouting, "Colin! Colin, over here!" I pushed through the crowd, found her standing in the middle. People around were giving her a bit of space, perhaps out of respect, but she looked ashen-faced, worried. I seized her hands.

"Are you getting us out?" She clutched my hands and stared up into my eyes. Overhead, a hot noon sun beat down around us. Everyone was shouting, calling out, pushing.

“Even better. I’m getting us in.” I grinned at her and started the plan Gambler and I had worked out. “Everybody! Quiet!” I shouted, and the noise dimmed down. “Line up, nice and orderly. I need everyone to sign the petition I’m passing around.” I gathered up all their IDs and pushed the data packet around.

Sage stared at me. “Collective bargaining agreement?”

“It’s how the dominators are handling prisoners of war. Effectively, you’ve all been made employees of Proxima. Just, you know, no responsibility or salary or… but being an employee comes with rights. Just have to put the matter to the system the right way.” I signed my own name with a flourish. “And as soon we get that one filed, I’ll be protesting the working conditions and demanding to speak with a labor negotiator.”

My first petition was taken up for consideration and I let out a sigh of relief. We had standing now. They wouldn’t be able to flush our soul coins.

Now I just had to sit back and trust Williams to finish things.