I awoke in a square cell; three sides were made of cold white metal. There were rivets in each corner from floor to ceiling; the walls were bare other than that. The fourth side was a force field glowing a bright amber color and semi-translucent. I was lying on a bed that was level with the floor, slightly recessed so that the mattress was even with the floor. There was a small toilet and sink at the foot of the bed.

  Remembering what happened before I blacked out, I felt my stomach. My uniform top was gone, and there was a large scar on the left side of my abdomen. The scar, along with my ribs, was tender to the touch. I was sure the sword stabbing in from behind had broken a few ribs, but now they were healed, mostly. I must have been given some sort of healing stim because the last thing I remember is that jagged red blade sticking out of my stomach.

  I stood up to see if I could get an idea of where I was. I could see through the force field, and leaning as close as I could, I looked to the left and right. There were more cells alternating sides all the way down as far as I could see, which honestly wasn’t far. I counted five cells on the side opposite mine, and I figured there were at least five on my side.

  “Hello?” I shouted, “Is anyone there?” I heard no response. Surely, I wasn’t the only one in this prison. Somebody else had to be here. I figured there were guards, if nothing else, so I kept shouting. “Is anyone fucking there?!” the strain of shouting reminded me that my ribs were still not completely healed.

  “Keep it down. You don’t want the guards coming through,” a male voice whispered in response. “If the guards come, they’ll make sure you stay quiet.”

  “Where are we? I don’t even know how I got here. What the hell is going on?” I asked as I leaned closer and pressed my hands against the force field. I was immediately thrown back across my cell, slamming hard against the wall. Pain shot through my hands, but there were no visible burn marks. “Uugh, what the actual fuck?” I groaned as I rolled over onto my side, coughing.

  “Yeah, umm, you don’t want to touch that,” a new voice said, this one female. “That force field won’t kill you, but it will knock the shit out of you. It’s best if you try not to touch it.”

  “Fuck this!” I growled walking back up to the front of the cell.

  I stood and breathed deeply, trying to summon my armor. The tips of my fingers turned black like the armor was trying to equip, and then it immediately receded. I tried again and got the same result. I raised my hands and looked at my palms in confusion. “What the hell is going on?”

  “Your abilities won’t work inside the cell; they have a way to block them,” the female voice said. “You can keep trying to find a way out, but we don’t think we’re getting out of here alive.”

  I could hear the resignation in her voice as she spoke. I walked back to my bed and sat down, my back against the wall.

  “My name is Loren, by the way. That’s Brian in the next cell,” the female voice said.

  “Everyone calls me Red, though,” the male voice said. “We have been here for a while. We made it through the tutorial, but about two days later, we were captured and brought here. We couldn’t really figure out how to operate our ship and ended up in the wrong quadrant. The lizard guys said we were trying to escape.”

  “What do you mean you couldn’t operate your ship? Doesn’t the AI do it for you?” I asked.

  “What do you mean AI?” Red asked. “There was an autopilot sequence to get us off the tutorial planet, but we were on our own after that. There were some instructions,” he scoffed, “a fucking instruction book to pilot a spaceship! Ain’t that some shit? We did manage to get the ship moving. We even accidentally did a warp jump, but that’s how we ended up so far off course. It’s like they wanted us to fail,”

  I sat with my arms on my knees, listening. “They did. The more of us who fail, the higher their chances of winning this thing,” I said back. “What about your guardian?” I asked, “Didn’t you each get a guardian?”

  “We came through in a group of five. We had a guardian at first. Some guy who said he was a super AI or something. He helped us get through the tutorial level and even helped us pick our classes. Once we got to our ship, he started glitching and freaking out. He said something was wrong with his true body, then he went fuzzy and disappeared,” Red said.

  “I think he died,” Loren said sadly.

  I sat in silence for a minute. It didn’t make any sense; how could their AI just disappear? Why had the group only gotten one AI instead of one each? I had so many questions and no way of getting answers.

  “So, how did you get here?” Red asked.

  “It’s a long story that ends with me being stabbed in the back, literally stabbed in the back, by an Enforcer General,” I said.

  “Is that the big scary thing that dropped you off in the cell?” Loren asked.

  “If he had four arms, no eyes, and two red swords, then yeah, that was him,” I responded.

  “Why were you even fighting that thing? He seemed super strong, but our interfaces don’t work in here, so I couldn’t tell for sure,” Red said.

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  “I wasn’t fighting him, and he is Level 75. We didn’t expect him to be there,” I said. I groaned in frustration; this conversation was getting me nowhere. Not only was I stuck here, but there were at least five other humans here, too. I had to figure out a way to get myself and these people out of here, but I had no idea where to start. Suddenly, I saw a light flicker out of the corner of my right eye. I looked up to see Tiff… kind of.

  I jumped up and looked toward the distorted figure. “Tiff? Is that you?” It sort of looked like her, but she was blurry. It was like she was here but also not here at the same time.

  “Captain, I need you to listen. Don’t talk, just listen,” she said as she looked through me. It was like she couldn’t see me; she was just talking in my general direction. I waved my hand in front of her face, but she didn’t react. I tried to touch her, but my hand just phased right through her form. I could feel something that made my hand tingle as it passed through, but she wasn’t solid.

  “Listen, we’re coming for you soon. The Retribution is helping us, and we will be at your location in approximately half an hour. The detention station has limited defensive capabilities, but that enforcer is still on board, so we will have our hands full,” she said. “I can sense your location, but something is stopping me from materializing my secondary body. I assume your abilities are suppressed as well. I need you to listen closely; this part is important. When the chaos starts, I need you to find the suppression field generator and destroy it. We will handle getting you out, but we are going to need that field down first. Do you understand?”

  “Tiff, I have no idea where to find that thing. Even if I do, what are you going to do about the Enforcer General?” I asked. “I can’t let you put your life at risk, or anyone else’s, for that matter. What if…”

  “I’m running out of time, Captain. The plan is already in place, and we are en route. It’s too late to turn back now, and we wouldn’t, anyway. A crew needs a captain, Andrew. Just be ready when the force fields go down,” she said, cutting me off.

  “Tiff, there are other people here,” I said hurriedly. “We can’t leave them.”

  “You are my priority, Captain, but if you can save them, do it. We need all the help we can get,” she replied. With that, her body faded out, and I was alone again. Things were about to get really crazy really fast and to make matters worse; I heard footsteps coming toward my cell.

  “Ah, you’re awake, human,” the Enforcer said with a sickening smile, his eyeless head tilting to the side as he grinned. “Your body is quite delicate. I barely used any force when I slid my blade into your back. I was honestly quite surprised it pushed completely through. Weak species, I guess; not surprising.”

  I stood up, fists clenched, anger pulsing through me as I stared at the massive enforcer.

  “Ha! How amusing the primate is angered. I assume you will start throwing feces next,” the enforcer continued, taunting me without moving a muscle. “Let me give you a history lesson, human. My name is Anthragor; my people are the Mulhaz. We hail from the planet Khafaparet. I am sure this means nothing to you, for I am aware that your ignorance is greater even than your foolhardiness.” Anthragor clasped the hands of his top two arms as the lower two rested on his red blades. “However, I must insist that you humor me. After all, you will be going nowhere anytime soon.” Anthragor turned and placed his four clawed hands behind his back, his swords jingling lightly as he paced back and forth, continuing to monologue. “My people were in the founding group of the Universal Council. We consider it the greatest honor to serve the Council and have done so willingly for generations. I have been in the council militia for nearly two hundred of your Earth years, and it has taken me that long to achieve the heights at which I now find myself. It is not merely tenure, however, that has allowed me to progress to the rank of Enforcer General. No, if that were the case, many others would have surpassed me long ago. It has been my dedication to the Council and my desire to see their reach and power grow that has allowed me to achieve my rank.”

  Anthragor turned to face me once more, walking closer to my cell. “You see, there is a balance, human. A balance to the tradition of Reaping and Sowing that must be upheld. Yet, you…” He growled the word, “have tried to tip the scales in your favor. I cannot simply overlook this, for it is a grave insult to the Council.” He reached a long, clawed finger toward the force field, his menacing head extending outward, anger consuming his features. Anthragor scratched a clawed finger down the force field, showing no reaction. He hissed, anger and annoyance in his words, “An insult to the Council is an insult to me, and for this insult, you will pay with your life.”

  “Are you gonna talk all day? I mean, I get it. You are the big bad, and monologuing kind of comes with the territory, but honestly, should I have a seat because this is really dragging on,” I said, trying to make the point that I wouldn’t be intimidated.

  Anthragor calmly smiled again. “Words are all you can muster, human. Pathetic.” He turned, moving back to where he had come from. He walked with determination and self-control, like someone who had a lifetime of military service.

  “Hey, Anthragor!” I shouted, “You can stick your balance up your ass if you can find it, you blind asshole!”

  Anthragor paused, his bottom right-hand quivering near the hilt of his sword before he continued, walking out of my line of sight.

  “Jesus, man, what the hell is wrong with you?” Red asked, “Don’t provoke that thing; it could kill you without breaking a sweat!”

  I stared out of my cell toward where Anthragor had just walked. “If he could have killed me, he would have done it already. There is a reason we’re all still alive.” After waiting a few minutes, I was confident that Anthragor was gone. I needed to get these people up to speed before the Bloodhound arrived. I looked towards Red’s cell and began to talk with a hushed whisper, “Okay, I need you two to listen to me and pass the word to your friends if you can. My ship will be here any minute. We are getting out of this place, but before we can, I’ve got to find a suppression field generator thing and destroy it. The only thing is I have no idea where to find it, so we are going to have to move fast and try to find where it is stored.”

  “We were brought in through the main docking bay,” Loren said. “We walked through a lot of the facility, and from what I can tell, this is the only area with holding cells. This place is like one big rectangle. We saw it when they towed our ship in. We came in through the front, and I think we’re in the back portion of the facility now. There are no guard stations, it’s all automated. If we go up the hallway in the direction the Enforcer came from, we will come to a cross-section with hallways on both sides. It has got to be on one side or the other since the main hallway leads to the docking bay.”

  “Okay, we will split up. Whoever finds the room, just destroy anything that looks important. We have got to take the field down,” I said. As I finished speaking, sparks started sprinkling off the wall above my bed, moving in a circle like the wall was being cut with a plasma cutter. I watched impatiently as a hole about four feet in diameter was cut into the wall of my cell. The section of wall in the center of the hole that had been cut clanged onto the floor, and Tiff stepped through.

  She rushed over and threw me a rifle, “Time to go, Captain.”