It was music to Nic’s ears. For a few glorious seconds, Team Scarlet was back on the road to victory.

>SCARLET: 10 | TYRIAN: 56 | XANTHIC: 9 (SCARLET: 2/4) | TYRIAN: 1/4 | XANTHIC: 1/4

“[I’m back,]” Shanti’s thought-to-speech announced.

“Me as well,” added Maqsud.

“Next stop is Zone Delta,” said Nic.

“I’m quite close, actually! I’m on my way!”

“Good. We’ll meet you there.”

A few seconds passed with only the sounds of their labored breathing to break the silence in the team chat. Nic led his surviving two squadmates in the direction of the Xanthic-controlled Zone Delta to keep the rotation alive.

“No!” Perri cried out.

“It’s okay!” Nic replied right away. “It’s okay. Watch!”

SCARLET: 24 | TYRIAN: 56 | XANTHIC: 9 SCARLET: 1/4 | TYRIAN: 1/4 | XANTHIC: 1/4

“One each,” said Perri. “Where’s the fourth?”

“We’re on it!” Max exclaimed. “We’re on it now. I estimate a completed capture in roughly five more seconds!”

Nic pumped his fist victoriously. “That’s the way, Team Scarlet! Now we’re all going to converge on an empty Enemy Zone. Get ready!”

>SCARLET: 25 | TYRIAN: 56 | XANTHIC: 9 (SCARLET: 2/4) | TYRIAN: 1/4 | XANTHIC: 1/4

“On to Alpha!” Nic barked. “Go, go, go!”

The two who captured Delta joined the three who were already in full sprint across the battlefield. This has got to work, Nic thought. Rotate faster than the other squads. Go for any zone that’s open. Mathematically, it’ll be impossible for them to catch up to us... He blinked a droplet of sweat off the lashes of his right eye. ...Unless they figure out my strategy and use it against me.

SCARLET: 25 | TYRIAN: 56 | XANTHIC: 9 SCARLET: 1/4 | TYRIAN: 1/4 | XANTHIC: 1/4

Shanti had already reached Zone Alpha before anyone else, turning it colorless as Team Scarlet captured the zone—and snatching away Tyrian’s majority with milliseconds to spare, preventing them from scoring.

“Brava, Shanti!” Maqsud congratulated Scarlet 5. “We locked them out again! Yes! Nic, I really think this is going to work!”

“It will,” Nic said with confidence. “But only if we keep going at this pace. On the plus side, we’re having way fewer gunfights. Meanwhile, they’re going at it. They’re getting tilted.” Nic gestured with his chin at a cluster of yellow-on-purple violence, the explosion of a Fragmentation Grenade in the distance that sounded perilously close. Nic still wasn’t used to the heightened sounds in this high-atmosphere environment.

“Be honest... with you,” Jarek huffed, “I’d rather... feel a gunfight... than this right now. No offense... boss. It’s workin’!”

“We’ll have plenty of time to rest after today,” said Nic. “Rest and count our credits. Think of what to spend them on.” Nic smiled wistfully. It’s within our reach, Team Scarlet, but we have a lot of work left to do today. “On to the next zone triple time! Go! Go! GO!”

Nic watched his squad’s score continue to climb...

>SCARLET: 26 | TYRIAN: 56 | XANTHIC: 9 (SCARLET: 2/4) | TYRIAN: 1/4 | XANTHIC: 1/4

And climb...

>SCARLET: 44 | TYRIAN: 56 | XANTHIC: 9 (SCARLET: 2/4) | TYRIAN: 1/4 | XANTHIC: 1/4

And climb higher still...

>SCARLET: 80 | TYRIAN: 56 | XANTHIC: 9 (SCARLET: 2/4) | TYRIAN: 1/4 | XANTHIC: 1/4

Once implemented, his strategy worked flawlessly. In a moment of humility, of realism, he chalked it up to a combination of his tactics, as well as the other squads being too aggressive in retracing their own steps and defending already captured zones. Team Scarlet had just one more death for the remainder of the Wargame—Nic himself—while Perri and Jarek were still piloting their very first proxybots without having died once.

It was also helpful to travel as a group whenever possible. The other two squads spread their members thin in the hopes of netting more captures, but there was power in numbers, and Team Scarlet always had the numerical edge over any defenders or would-be invaders. Meanwhile, pairs and trios from the other squads were always busy duking it out in roughly evenly-matched fights that left few survivors.

Teams Tyrian and Xanthic were squabbling in a hotly-contested Zone Alpha when the Wargame finally ended.

>SCARLET: 100 | TYRIAN: 56 | XANTHIC: 9 (SCARLET: 2/4) | TYRIAN: 1/4 | XANTHIC: 1/4 GAME OVER TEAM SCARLET: VICTORY!

“Yes!” Perri squealed gleefully. Her helmet was only half-off, the SimSuit still clinging tightly to her body. She didn’t wait to celebrate. “We did it! Nic, great thinking out there!”

Nic smiled and did a mock bow. “Ah, well, I’d be nothing without the hustle and dedication of my squadmates!” He heard high-fives and excited conversations exchanged in the background, but his eyes were drawn back to the holographic scoreboard.

TEAM FREE-FOR-ALL >SCARLET: 1 | TYRIAN: 1 | XANTHIC: 0

We’ve come this far and done this much already, Nic thought, remembering their harrowing expedition across the planet culminating in an impromptu diving mission. When this is all over, Planet Nereus will be ours.

***

Maqsud approached Nic just as the latter stepped out of the bathroom.

“Have you got a sec?” asked Max.

“Of course,” replied Scarlet 1. “Shoot.”

“Well, the excitement of Wargame is all well and good, but I’ve been a bit distracted—all day, really—about the fate of Team Obsidian out there.” Nic felt a pang of guilt that the five MIA operatives hadn’t even crossed his mind once that day. “Might it be a good idea to send a beacon to Red Terraforming and brief them on the potential dangers?”

Nic tried to hide his twinge of worry and convey only confidence. “RTIFIS included everything in the beacon we already sent. Red Terraforming knows. WorldGov probably knows.”

“This match is exhilarating and all that, but don’t you think we should be... oh, I don’t know... looking into the disappearances of those five saboteurs? They could be dead out there, Nic.”

“If they’re out there, they’re in vac-armor. They can always call their RTIFIS for help. Their Corvette is still parked where we found it, far away from any Wargame battlefields.” Max ran a hand through his silky black hair. “I get that you’re worried, man, but it’s out of our hands now.”

“It doesn’t bother you to wonder what happened to them?”

I’ve been too busy thinking about our future. About fighting. About myself. “Red Terraforming knows everything we know about Nereus.” He scoffed, thinking of the biomarker readings that the AI refused to disclose to them. “Actually, they know even more than we do. Either someone’s already en route to investigate, or someone will let us know if plans change. The corporations are all watching our Wargame match through the FTLCom link anyway.”

Maqsud shook his head. “Something about this whole situation just doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Well,” said Nic, giving him an encouraging pat on the back, “losing out on 10 million credits doesn’t sit right with me. Let’s get back out there and win us a planet.”

Max’s lips spread into a reluctant grin, as if to tell Nic he had a point there. “I suppose the prospect of an early retirement should prove a sufficient distraction for the time being. You’ve swayed me.”

They hurried upstairs to make it back to the Simnasium before the next Wargame began. Nic hoped for a familiar one, one that wouldn’t require the formulation of more new strategies. He glanced at the running Team Free-for-All scoreboard as if to confirm Team Scarlet’s singular point hadn’t been revoked somehow.

>SCARLET: 1 | TYRIAN: 1 | XANTHIC: 0

Deep down, a part of him did worry about Team Obsidian. They were not his top priority—especially considering they may have had a very unscrupulous hand in Red Terraforming’s predicament, skirting galactic law. But he still worried for the five human beings yet unaccounted for.

Wherever you are, Team Obsidian, and whatever you’ve done, he thought, I hope you’re safe.

On his way to the Simnasium, he cast one more glance through the front viewscreen in the Control Room. The shadows lengthened. In a few hours, the sun would set on Planet Nereus and all the secrets it still guarded, secrets that could not stay buried forever.