by Alex Knight
He’s still alive. It didn’t kill him!
A small victory, though, considering Nassus was still very much alive. She had Titus at her mercy, and since it was a duel, there was nothing anyone could do to step in. The game wouldn’t allow it.
Titus growled as he climbed to his feet. His armor was scored around the ribs where Dismiss had hit, his shield was overloaded, and from the look in his eyes, he was definitely a bit dizzy.
“That all… you got?” he managed to stammer.
Nassus laughed at that.
“That’s all you can take, big guy. Now get out of here before I send you on a weeklong vacation, yeah?”
Titus made to respond but Kaiden cut him off, stepping between him and Nassus before she changed her mind. Titus looked far from done, coasting on anger more than anything else. But the fight was unwinnable. Everyone knew it. Didn’t mean the big man wanted to admit it, though.
“We’re done here,” Kaiden said, more to Titus than anyone else. “We’re done.”
“Come on,” Thorne said through comms. “We’ll find another way.”
Titus grumbled some response but Kaiden wasn’t listening, already dragging him out of the dome and back toward the Veritas II before Nassus could finish what she’d started.
Chapter Seventeen
“Eighteen... nineteen... twenty.” Titus groaned as he fought through the last push-up of the set. He’d been switching between different body weight exercises for over an hour now. Sweat ran from his forehead, splattered to the concrete floor below.
Grinding in-game and out, Thorne thought. Though probably blowing off steam as well. He was still angry about Maximus. Angry Nassus had baited him into such a stupid duel. Angry that he’d damn near gotten himself killed and hurt the whole damn team. Thorne had made sure he was aware of that. Titus had understood and apologized, but the anger was far from gone. Presently, he was working it out through physical exertion, but that didn’t mean he was letting it go. No, if she was a gambler, she’d wager he was set on getting back at Maximus.
As long as he keeps focused on the bigger picture and doesn’t push himself too hard. With how much everyone had been grinding in-game, and how little sleep they’d been getting because of it, it was important they all stayed as sharp as possible. Needed to keep clear minds.
Probably I should take a bit of my own advice.
She’d exhausted herself delivering a physical copy of the database to Dawson. Really, it’d been a simple task, taking the van back to the edge of the city then hiding the database and sending him a message with instructions on where to find it. Nonetheless, she’d been looking over her shoulder the whole time, and the exhaustion of that sort of paranoia didn’t go away quickly. But she had to power through.
Zelda was a good example. An absolute workaholic. Between grinding, eating, and finding time to sleep, she used what little time she had left to scour Bernstein’s database. It seemed her sole focus.
There’s a reason these three have gotten as far as they have, Thorne reminded herself. Zelda’s knowledge. Kaiden’s perseverance. Titus’ strength and connections. And now, my knowledge of the Party, she told herself. It’s enough to be a winning combination. I know it.
“Crackdown’s still on,” Kaiden said from the far side of the room where he was slung across a chair and reading the news from his handheld console. “Curfew’s stricter than ever and arrests are rising.”
Good news. Well, not because more arrests are good, but if the Party is tightening their grip, clamping down on freedoms, it means they’re worried.
“How are the people reacting?” Thorne asked. “If the Party’s putting more pressure on them, they’re doing us a favor. Add pressure to a closed system and it’s only a matter of time before it explodes.”
“Doesn’t say. The only information’s on what the Party’s doing ‘in the interest of preserving a safe and prosperous society.’”
“Makes sense,” Thorne said with a nod. And it did. “Any attention the Party gives to dissidence only encourages more of it. They’ll keep it quiet as long as possible.”
“Or there’s just no dissidence to report on,” Titus said, pausing mid-crunch.
“There’s always been dissidence,” she said, glancing at him. “We were just good at covering it up.”
Titus shrugged, then returned to his workout.
“Something else here,” Kaiden said. “Sources from within NextGen Games leaked that there’s some sort of spat going on between them and the Party?”
“Oh?” Now that’s interesting.
Zelda perked up at that too, still reading something in the database, but turning an ear toward Kaiden nonetheless.
“An anonymous source, allegedly an employee of NextGen, claims that Party officials have been pressuring the company in ways that ‘violate the sovereignty of NextGen digital properties, including our flagship game, Nova Online.’” Kaiden paused after reading the quote, then furrowed his brow. “What’s that about?” But Thorne already knew the answer.
“Moran,” she said. “He’s always hated that NextGen has sole ownership over Nova. Not so much because he cares about the game, but because of what the ownership of it represents: weakness on the Party’s part. Nova was – is – a thorn in their side. With the crackdown, the curfew, and who knows what else, it makes sense he’d push harder on Nova too.”
“Especially considering he’s searching for us in there,” Zelda said, finally looking up from the database. “That run-in with – what was his name? Werner? That run-in with Werner seems evidence enough that Moran realizes we’re hidden well away in the real world, at least for now. Doesn’t mean he’ll stop looking for us – we all know he’ll do nothing of the sort – but probably he realizes his best chance of catching us – or more specifically, capturing the digital copy of the database – is in-game.”
Thorne nodded at all of that.
“Exactly. Moran’s gonna push harder and harder until he gets what he wants. A curfew, more arrests, pressure on NextGen to hand over authority of Nova – they’re all part of the bigger plan. All designed to stop us.” Thorne paused, then frowned. She’d realized all of this before now, but hadn’t put it into so many words. Hadn’t given voice to the thought. Now that she did, though, she knew there was something she’d missed.
“Werner mentioned having multiple accounts,” she said, thinking on that.
“Said he had others power-leveling them for him,” Kaiden said, nodding. “Honestly, it makes sense. If we had more time, I’d suggest we do the same.”
Thorne leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees.
“That’s just it, though. We don’t have time. That’s what concerns me.” She looked around at all of them.
“I... don’t follow,” Kaiden said.
“We don’t have any time to waste, right? So if you were trying to stop us, what would you do?”
Titus sat up from the floor, breathing heavy from working out, and shrugged.
“Waste our time. Delay us.”
Thorne nodded. “And how best to do that?”
“Short of catching us in the real world,” Zelda said slowly, “I’d try to kill us in-game. That buys a week at a time.”
“Exactly. And they’ve tried and will continue to try. But what else can they do? What would delay us even more than killing us in-game?”
When no one responded, Thorne answered her own question.
“Taking our accounts, guys. Remember when we first logged in and all of our accounts were locked? That happens for two reasons: either NextGen bans you, or someone tries to break into your account.”
“NextGen locked the accounts to protect them... ” Kaiden said, eyes going wide as the realization hit him.
Thorne slapped her leg.
“Exactly! The Party was trying to force their way into our accounts. If they’d succeeded, they’d have been able to trade away the database.”
“But they didn’t get in,” Zelda said, and f
rom the look in her eyes, Thorne could see she was putting the pieces together now. “So now they’re leaning on NextGen to give them access. That’s what they’re pressuring them over.”
Bingo. Thorne nodded.
“That, or they’re pressuring NextGen to just delete our accounts outright. That wouldn’t get them the database, but it’d be game over for us. We’re busting our rears sixteen hours a day to grind up to max level, but if we lost our accounts none of it would matter.”
“No credits, no levels, no warden class.” Kaiden shook his head. “No Veritas II and no access to Braker, our NPC holding the database. We’d have to figure out a way to get all of that back before we could even consider our next move against the Party.”
“I’d say that would slow us down a bit more than just killing us for a week,” Thorne said, then cursed. “We were almost dead in the water and we didn’t even realize it.”
Zelda rose and headed over to her headset.
“There’s no guarantee we’re not.” She picked it up and flicked the power switch. “If Moran’s pushing for this, how long do you think NextGen can realistically hold out? They’ve always resisted the Party before, but have they ever been pushed this hard? If they’re leaking things to the public then this is clearly something they’re concerned about.”
“NextGen’s always held firm,” Thorne said, thinking back to the dozens of times they and the Party had butted heads. “But you’re right. The Party pressuring them and coming after our accounts is a ticking time bomb. And the worst part is, we don’t know how long until it goes off. And if I know the Party, they’ll be pushing in more ways than one.”
“How else could they go about this?” Kaiden asked.
“No clue,” Thorne said, shaking her head. “But believe me, they are.”
“Bernstein did have that file on, what was it? ‘Operation Killswitch,’” Zelda said. “Just a mention of it, really, in the database. You think that’s related?”
“Hard to say without more information on it,” Thorne said. “If so, though, I’d hazard it’s just one of a dozen plans they’re pursuing. We can’t counter them all – don’t even know the full extent of them. No, our best bet is to get the database out before any of the Party’s plans succeed. That’s how we win. Simple as that.”
“Huh.” Kaiden laughed. “Yeah. Simple.”
Chapter Eighteen
Welcome to Nova Online
The text faded from view and Kaiden let out a long sigh of relief as he spawned into the game.
Of course my account is still here. But still, some small part of him had worried it wouldn’t be. The Party had tried to break into his account before and failed. There was no reason to think they’d succeed if they tried again. Yet knowing his account had been targeted left him feeling exposed. And there was the remaining issue of the Party pressuring NextGen Games into... well, they weren’t entirely sure what, but it was a safe guess it had to do with their accounts. Maybe with deleting them entirely.
But that hadn’t happened yet. And if Kaiden was able to do anything about it, it never would.
The Veritas II was where they’d left it, in orbit above Kyraxis. The gaseous planet spun slowly beneath them. Towards its equator, a storm likely thousands of miles wide raged in a slow, swirling silence.
“I’ve never been so relieved to successfully log in,” Zelda said, looking down at her character’s hands as if they were new. “You don’t appreciate what you have until you’ve lost it.”
“Or nearly lost it,” Thorne added.
“I knew the Party played dirty,” Titus said, cracking his knuckles. “But there really is no low they won’t stoop to, is there?”
Thorne shrugged.
“That’s Moran for you. When he sets his mind to something, he becomes... singularly focused.”
“Then we need to be just as singularly focused.” Kaiden clapped his hands together. “Maximus are being a bunch of idiots and I’m not done with them yet. We can regroup and figure out a different approach to take with them, but in the meantime, I think we should chase a different lead.”
“The free wardens?” Thorne suggested. “Their muscle might help us convince the idiots down there,” she gestured toward Kyraxis, “to talk with us about something other than what level we are.”
“Where do we find them?” Kaiden asked as he began pacing. “I mean, they don’t have an established guild or anything, right? They’re just a bunch of graduates from the program who still play.”
Thorne nodded.
“That’s true. But I know several of them. I can reach out. Arrange some meetings. Dawson might be able to help with that, too. Once he has the database. I told him where to find it, so he’ll have that soon.”
“We should wait on him, then. Wait until he has it before pursuing that option.”
“Waiting isn’t something we have time for, Kai.” Zelda was on the terminal built in to the Veritas II’s galley table. It looked like she was plotting a route.
“Maximus respects strength, right?” she said, still interfacing with the terminal. “Well, then we should show them strength. Bernstein pointed us in the direction of an ally he trusted. Or thought could be trusted.” She gestured to the image of a planet on the terminal’s screen. “Here.”
“NC451,” Kaiden said, reading the name. “Never heard of that planet.”
“Probably because it’s not a planet,” Zelda said. “It’s a moon, technically. But it’s big enough to maintain an atmosphere. And it’s owned by the potential powerful ally Bernstein recommended.”
“Odditor,” Thorne said with a knowing nod, then stepped up closer to the terminal. She leaned down to get a better view. “Never been to NC451, but I hear it’s wild.”
“Hold up. You said ‘owned,’” Kaiden said, hung up on the word. “This guy owns a moon?”
Zelda smirked.
“I did say he could be a potentially powerful ally.”
Odditor... Kaiden bit at his lip and tried to recall what else he’d heard about the player. Dude’s important, but kind of a hermit. Keeps a bunch of pet monsters, I think? And he runs some relevant factions?
“Bernstein said he ran several factions, right? I can’t remember how many.”
Zelda shook her head.
“Bernstein didn’t know for sure. And I didn’t even know this guy was anything more than a weird streamer cashing in on people’s bizarre tastes.”
Oh, right. The maze! That thing sounded awesome.
“So, you think if we can get this guy on board with us, the combined strength of the factions he allegedly runs would be enough to convince Maximus to talk to us?” Kaiden asked.
“It’s not a bad thought,” Titus said with a shrug. “Though something tells me the only thing Maximus will respect is force.”
“Odditor is a piece of Nova lore,” Zelda said, stressing the last word. “The guy’s been around since the beginning. If we can make an ally of him, there’s a big chance we gain more than just the support of the factions he leads.”
“She has a point there,” Thorne said. “We’re not particularly hurting for credits right now, but we will need a lot more than my stash to outfit an army. This guy’s insanely rich, he’s likely powerful too, and Bernstein thought there was a chance he could be trusted. Maybe even a chance he’d be sympathetic to our cause.”
“And there’s a chance if he does join us that Maximus will reconsider…” Kaiden pondered that a moment. “Apparently it takes allies to gain allies. Sort of like a line of dominos and we just need to knock down the first one.”
Zelda raised her shoulders in a shrug.
“That’s the theory, at least. And at present, I don’t have a better one.”
“What about ‘The Syndicate?’” Titus said out of the blue. “Bernstein also mentioned them.”
Yeah, he did. Something about them had resonated with Kaiden when he’d first heard of them. Something about their mystery, maybe.
“‘The Sy
ndicate’ doesn’t exist,” Thorne said, fixing Titus with a firm gaze. “Odditor is a piece of Nova folklore, but ‘The Syndicate’ is just a collection of rumors and made-up stories.”
“Probably,” Kaiden added. “Probably just rumors.”
Thorne scoffed at that.
“But I think Zelda’s right,” Kaiden continued. “We know Odditor actually exists. Whether he’s as strong as Bernstein seemed to think, well, we’ll see. But at the very least, we know where to find him. Everything else we can figure out once we meet him.”
“Assuming we don’t get the same treatment we did here,” Titus said with a growl and cast a glance back toward Kyraxis.
He’s not letting that go anytime soon, is he?
“So, it’s settled, then?” Zelda looked up at them all. “We make for NC451 and Odditor. Find out if Bernstein’s suspicions were correct and see if we can’t win a major ally in the process?”
Thorne grunted her approval. Titus nodded.
Kaiden hesitated a moment, then nodded as well.
“Done.” Zelda swiped at the terminal’s screen and the route she’d plotted flew off to one side. “Acton,” she said through comms. “I just sent up a course to a small moon.”
“We received it, Captain.”
“Great. It’s a bit of a backwater, but that might just work in our favor. I know we have the new transponder, but let’s do our best to avoid major space lanes on the way there, yeah? The Warden Corps knows we’re using a transponder, so there’s a good chance they’ll just be scanning every light cruiser they come across.”
“Understood, ma’am.”
The engines of the Veritas II fired to life, and outside the window, Kyraxis began to move slowly away.
“Well, there it is.” Kaiden looked at everyone in the room with him. “Maximus didn’t work out as planned, but it’s gonna take more than that to stop us.” He turned toward the bridge. Somewhere, far in front of them, NC451 waited.