The next morning Kingsley stood in front of his flight members.

His flight, he prayed that some higher being help him in the task that lay ahead.

"Ladies and gentleman. Welcome to Flight Three, Third Squadron, the Black Sheep. I have the dishonour," he sneered and spat on the ground, "Of being your Flight-Leader. From now on, I have your balls, and your lives in the cup of my hand." Holding out his open hand, he clenched it tightly into a fist.

“You are a pack of scum and ruffians, a nest of snakes, you are the very dregs of mankind. Past appearances to the contrary, you have always been so, and will remain so until I see fit to let you die. All of you should be getting a message on your visors. Right, about. Now.”

LIVES RESET – 49

LIVES RESET – 49 LIVES LOST

1 LIFE REMAINING

He smiled as the men and women assembled before him reacted to the news that they had just one life yet. Some screamed. Some cried. Some stepped forward as if to attack him. The sharp clack-clack of his shotgun being chambered made them step back into line.

49 lives lost, and 1 life remaining meant that there were no more respawns. Under the rules of Duty Calls Online, a full-sensory game developed initially to aid in training troops for real war, would become the battleground of the future.

Troops would be transported to the country of their enemies to be inserted into sensory deprivation tanks. There they would fight the war, online, in a fully-immersive experience. Each soldier would be given 50 lives and, upon losing their 50th life, they would be executed by a lethal injection applied by the enemy.

In order to ensure that wars didn't go on ad nauseam, it was agreed by all that soldiers who made it through 100 battles without losing all of their lives would be allowed to return to civilian life and could not be called upon again for that war. The constant depletion of manpower meant that the wars would have to be short and sharp.

However, any and all injuries sustained on the 50th life would be reflected in real-life. Soldiers would also carry wounds over into their next life. For example, if someone lost a leg on their 10th life but didn’t die, they would have a cybernetic replacement.

Upon dying, when they respawned on their eleventh life, they would still have that cybernetic leg. And if they managed to fight through 100 missions and survive, they would find that their real-life leg had been replaced with a cybernetic one.

He smiled as the men and women assembled before him reacted to the news that they had just one life yet. Some screamed. Some cried. Some stepped forward as if to attack him. The sharp clack-clack of his shotgun being chambered made them step back into line.

“You are now fully-fledged members of the air-wing of the 49ers Corps. You have one life left. But we shall ensure that you take your time to die. You will not die when you want to, when I will it.”

He turned as the doors of the hangar behind him started to grind open, poorly oiled hinges squealing like a herd of wild pigs being burnt alive. The noise cut through the wailing of the newly-minted 49ers, bringing their crying to a sudden halt.

"Behind me you see the craft you will be flying. The Nemesis Wrath variant. A two-man dive bomber. We'll save the technical briefing for later. Firstly I want to tell you that you are scum. If the ChinKor hadn't killed so many good pilots, you would have been sentenced to death.

"Secondly. I know that already some you are thinking of escaping. Try and you will die. Your craft are all rigged to explode if you get more than ten kilometres from me. They will also explode if you try to engage my craft whilst in the air. So you can put any thoughts of blasting me from the sky to the back of your mind. If you try to eject when the craft is nothing less than catastrophically damaged, that is less than 10% Body Points, it will explode.

All eyes were on him, none of the pilots before him seeming to be even breathing. Satisfied that he had their undivided attention, he continued, "The collars that were fitted to your neck are also rigged to explode.”

He pointed at Fitzsquire, a huge bruise had closed his eye and there were a couple of stitches in various places.

"Explode Flight-Sergeant!" echoed Fitzsquire on command.

"Very good Fitzsquire. And finally, if you annoy me, if you fail to obey me or any other superiors's orders, they will explode."

He paused as Schwarz languidly raised his hand. "Surely," Schwarz's deliberately cultivated Me2U accent rang out as he pronounced the word as 'sharly', "you can't mean that I, a Flight-Lieutenant and start have to obey the orders of an inferior?"

Kingsley slowly walked towards the fallen star, the youth staring at him in unbridled contempt. Gently he placed his hand on Schwarz's shoulder and leaned forward as if to whisper in his ear. Schwarz suddenly screamed, his voice getting shriller and shriller. Desperately his hands clawed at Kingsley' hand as it squeezed his balls in a vice-like grip.

Kingsley slapped his hands away and twisted his hand viciously. With one last wail Schwarz blacked out, his mind overwhelmed by the pain.

"Orderly!” roared Kingsley, “Take this man to the medics."

The rest of the flight watched, open-mouthed as Schwarz was dragged away by the heels.

"No doubt you can tell that the answer is yes. I own you. Follow me." Spinning to hide a smile, he strode in to the hangar where five Flight-Troopers were lined up. Behind them were another thirty ground crew.

Turning, he addressed his pilots once more. "These men are your gunners. They too are scum. Your lives depend on you, and they depend on them. Like them or hate them, you will need to work together. Flight-Trooper Gover, your assigned pilot is currently being treated in the hospital. Go and meet him." Gover gave a quick salute and sprinted off. Kingsley continued as if he hadn't stopped. "Behind them are your ground crew. They are not scum. They are God-fearing, loyal members of the ECAF air force. As such, they outrank you. They can, if necessary give you orders that will be obeyed.

"Now, step forward as I call your names and meet your people."