Nic’s body continued convulsing from the shock of the EMP Grenade. His proxybot’s systems went in and out of commission—his audio feed, and even his HUD were compromised momentarily.

“T-Team S-Scarl-l-let!” Nic stammered in the throes of simulated electrocution. “N-N-Need an a-assist here!”

“...lucky if you can even hear me right now,” Edith’s voice said during the interim. “Forget about calling for backup with your proxy fried like that. And forget about winning Planet Gwher. You lost the moment you landed, kid.” She raised her SMG.

Still frozen in place, Nic closed his eyes and braised for a fresh round of pain. The smothered staccato of gunfire barely reached his ears through Gwher’s paltry atmosphere.

But Jarek’s voice came in loud and clear through the team chat. “I think we’re just gettin’ started.” When Nic opened his eyes, Edith’s proxybot dropped lifelessly to the ground. “Nic, man, you good?”

“Jarek, dude, t-talk about perfect timing,” said Nic. “I hope you can hear me.”

“You’re breakin’ up a little, but I got the gist. Glad I got here when I did! Been trackin’ Edith for a while there, but man, that girl can move. Or... woman, I should say. She sounded like she was in her 20s I think. Anyway, how’s it goin’, man?”

“Better n-now that that shock grenade is wearing off.” Nic stretched his limbs, wiggling his fingers and toes, still jittery as all get-out but not in as much pain. “I almost prefer a knife to the neck.” He pondered his proxybot’s ability to shrug off the effects of an EMP burst. Then he remembered that all these weapons, all this technology, hailed from a bygone era when war was simply war, when nations and planets ran for their literal lives in a never-ending arms race. Where there was the EMP, there had to be the tech to undo its damage.

“40 to 36 ain’t half bad. How’s about we go and finish this together?”

Nic nodded, knowing that this time, Jarek could actually see his proxy move in tandem. “Together.”

“I’m gettin’ Final Exam vibes all over again—in a good way!”

Nic and Jarek wandered across the varied landscape of Gwher, its rocky hills and piles of sand that looked like they’d been spilled across the planet at random. It was not quite like the uniform layer of dust on the otherwise solid rock of Ayrus; this terrain was a little less predictable. They approached the battlefield’s canyon and saw that Team Azure’s Lise was already waiting for them.

Let’s do this just like in the sim. “Lise on my 12!” Nic shouted. They pulled their SMG triggers in unison, aimed directly at their opponent’s head. She was barely able to get off half a magazine by the time they eliminated her.

NIC >SMG> LISE SCARLET: 41 | AZURE: 36

“Nice shot, brother,” said Jarek. “Sorry about my performance out here. Not my proudest outing...” It sounded like the wind had been let out of his sails.

Maybe Arena just isn’t his mode. Everyone else needed a leg up in some other way. But he’ll be on the bottom of the squad scoreboard at this rate. “Don’t sweat it, man. We’re on another planet in some other part of the galaxy right now. I don’t think anyone can blame you for needing time to adjust. Stick with me and we’ll finish them off in no time.”

Jarek let out a chuckling sigh of relief. “All right. Let’s do it.”

As they stalked the alien planet for their next target, Shanti started feeding notifications into Nic’s HUD.

SHANTI >KNIFE> CHRISSY

A short while later...

SHANTI >KNIFE> EDITH

And not long after that...

SHANTI >KNIFE> MARTHA

So, I was right about her, Nic thought. She’s very tactical. I’ll have to keep that in mind.

When Nic and Jarek stumbled upon Veronica, it was another assured victory. She made the mistake of spraying her fire wildly on both of them and thereby lessened the damage she would have done with focus. Not them, though. The two Team Scarlet players landed as many headshots as necessary—with Nic letting up at the very end to make sure that it was one of Jarek’s bullets that did the job.

JAREK >SMG> VERONICA SCARLET: 45 | AZURE: 38

“I got one!” Jarek exclaimed. “That’s somethin’, right?”

“That’s right!” Nic felt a slight pang of guilt at his own slight dishonesty. For all he knew, Jarek could have gotten the kill on his own merit. It really all came down random luck playing out at bullet-fast speeds. But if it meant a morale boost for an underperforming player—and easily his closest friend on the squad—then it was worth it. “See, I told you we’d turn things around. Between us and Shanti, this should be over in a minute or two.”

Team Azure wasn’t letting victory slip from their fingers that easily, though. Perri and Maqsud were being relentlessly, repeatedly eliminated. Shanti managed another kill before, presumably, her Incognito Upgrade ran out, and once she rejoined the visible light spectrum, she was gunned down instantaneously.

SCARLET: 46 | AZURE: 44

“Edith!” Nic shouted when they saw her. Peppering her with SMG fire together, she was no match for them—not both of them. But she did kill Nic.

SCARLET: 47 | AZURE: 46

Perri and Max had both been killed again in the meantime. The notifications faded from Nic’s HUD once the ocular tracking registered that he’d read them.

It cannot end like this, he thought. “Jarek! Hey, man, listen to me.” He was speaking to no one but the void that followed death, even knowing full well that his squadmate couldn’t hear him. “Don’t let up, man. We can still win this! Control your shots and don’t get too in your head about it.” He knew that his words might have well been spilled into the vacuum of space itself. This respawn was the longest 10 seconds of his entire life.

Just then, he respawned. “Jarek—”

JAREK >FRAG> CHRISSY JAREK >FRAG> VERONICA SCARLET: 49 | AZURE: 47

“That’s what's up!” Jarek declared in the team chat. “Woo! You like that? Took a page from your book, Squad Leader! We ‘bout to—” In a sudden click, Nic’s celebration was sucked out of the window like atmosphere through an airlock.

SCARLET: 49 | AZURE: 48

“I see you two just figured out how to move in pairs,” said Edith. “This must be your first Wargame, no? You couldn’t have gotten very far playing so sloppily.”

Nic about-faced to see her standing behind him. You literally just killed me, he thought. Give a guy a break. “I’m sure you’d like to know.” He raised his freshly-loaded SMG. “This is the part where you plead with me not to end you right now, because we’re about to win.”

“Oh, I’m out of ammo,” Edith snickered. “Afraid I used it all up on you and your friends. Go ahead.” He hesitated. “Do it, Nic. You’ve won the battle. And mark my words, this is the last round you’ll win today. Remember how I told you that you lost the moment you landed? That’s not a challenge. That is a fact.”

“You seem pretty sure about that.” His finger hovered over the trigger.

Edith laughed lightly, the kind of laugh that still had a little 20-something youth in it but was hardened by adulthood. “Why do you think we went so easy on you this round? It’s all about learning your patterns and your teamwork style—or lack thereof. But even pulling our punches, you still almost lost. Tsk-tsk...”

Nic scoffed. “So, you think you know everything there is to know about us.”

“You’re one of those squads that just barely squeaked through the Final by the skin of your teeth, right? This is your first assignment. You’re going to lose. You’ll probably lose your next one, too, and if you know your contract, you’ll know that no matter the sponsor company, if you ever have two more losses than wins, it’s an automatic termination for your entire crew. Take it from me, Squad Leader to Squad Leader: you’re just not Wargame material.” Her words heated his blood like water on their Corvette’s electric stove: metal coils slowly warming from cold black to searing orange, a slow burn. His hands shook with the rage building up inside. “You know, Nic, if you want my advice—”

The rest of her sentence died with her in a hail of bullets.

NIC >SMG> EDITH SCARLET: 50 | AZURE: 48 GAME OVER TEAM SCARLET: VICTORY!

said RTIFIS.

Suddenly, Nic felt his helmet disconnect from his SimSuit, the rubbery ensemble going limp against his body. Everyone else was eager to slip out of their suits; he lingered in his. The room was full of fist pumping and celebration—Shanti was even smiling.

“Yes!” Jarek hollered. “That’s what I’m talkin’ about, Team Scarlet! That’s how we do it!” He shared a crisp, echoing high-five with Perri before wrapping Maqsud in a playful headlock.

Nic was the only one who couldn’t bring himself to join them. Edith had soured his victory. Even if she was only playing mind games—even if she was a sore loser trying to get in his head, and he wasn’t so clueless that he didn’t consider that a possibility—the damage was already done.

“Lighten up, Nic,” Max chuckled. “You look as if someone’s died. We’ve just won our very first Wargame, haven’t we?”

“We can’t get too comfortable out there,” Nic replied. “We still have one more round to win before the day is over. And Azure is not gonna go easy on us after that.”

“I want us all back here in 15,” Nic said firmly. “Go to the bathroom. Drink some water. Do what you have to do.”

Maqsud snapped a facetious military salute and said, “Sir, yes sir!” before wandering back into the starship’s common area. “Let’s go look out the viewscreen. This planet is incredible, don’t you think? The topography...” His voice trailed off along with the other four members of Team Scarlet. Nic remained in the Simnasium.

You lost the moment you landed, kid.

Nic scoffed again and thought, We’ll see about that.