Drazu Invasion

Zara awoke. Her pod was still closed. Text scrolled into view above her:

Initial implantation successful. No adverse indications reported. Initializing interface.

Zara was impressed with the quality of the facility. Before letting the pod work on her, she had reviewed the maintenance and cleaning logs. Drazu were top notch. Everything had been checked, prepared, and cleaned. It was 5 o’clock in the evening, so her initial procedure had lasted around four hours.

Before she could extract herself from the pod, another notification appeared:

You are being read into the classification Drazu-bronze. This classification has mandatory access control and mandatory communication restrictions. You must review the Drazu-bronze security policy and assent to these controls to be read into this classification.

Zara had to click accept several times. Yet another notification appeared:

You are being read into the program Drazu Challenge Team Osman. This is an originator controlled program. The originator is 39172 Terra use name Osman. Additional approval is required from a redacted entity. This program has mandatory communication restrictions. You must assent to the security policy before you can be read into this program.

There were even more screens of text to click through. Eventually the pod released her. While Zara was getting dressed, an announcement blared through the space: “Team Osman Drazu Challenge briefing video in 5 minutes. Stand by for your primary briefing.”

She joined the rest of the team in the common area. They all took seats facing the video screen.

“Did anyone have trouble with the implantation?” Zara asked.

“No, although I cannot figure out how to use the new hardware,” Jing said.

“I do not think it is ready. I think we will have to use the pods to help the interface.”

The screen lit, a 30-second countdown flashing. Ash tapped her chair; martial music played. A tall man in Drazu uniform entered into view. Two stars adorned his shoulders.

“I am General Quartz Taru clan Stone. For the glory of Drazu, my clan, and her mothers, I shall bring Talthania in submission under the Drazu Supremacy.

“Your team of Talthanians—your entire people in fact—shall soon be under my foot. This is inevitable and inescapable. Your challenge lies in learning what it is to be Drazu, and teaching that to the pigheaded Talthanians. The more you resist, the more difficult your journey.

“Some planets face Drazu annexation with wisdom. They open their arms, give a tithe of their people, accept our culture, and soon form a clan of their own.

“Talthania was not wise. We had not even focused our attention on you when you attacked. Your merchants thought to isolate us from our trade. They told your leaders it would not be worth our lives to respond.

“Perhaps if you count coins, that would be true. Long ago, Drazu learned never to let a threat go unanswered. Never again will anyone think they can attack our mothers with impunity. So, we will crush you. More than a million Talthanians will be slaves, sold across the supremacy, hostages for your assimilation. It will be a far greater price than if you had joined in submission on your knees.

“Eventually my soldiers will slake their lust. Eventually their anger at the comrads Talthania slew will run its course, and the slave ships will be fat with your people. Then even Talthania can begin its submission—begin to raise a clan.

“Even now, there is room for change. I can stay the hands of my soldiers if a city meets me on its knees. The tithe price you will pay for your folly is set. Nothing can change it. If you act quickly though, you can change what happens when my soldiers sweep through.” The general’s smile was all teeth.

Zara’s heart pounded. It felt like the general was looking right into her soul as he continued. “Listen closely or you will fumble away the time you have before I arrive. You are used to worlds where you build up your characters, gaining power as you accomplish great deeds.

“This is not such a world!”

He let that sink in for a moment and began to describe what world they would find themselves in. “You—each of you watching me—will face the challenges. You, not your characters, will have to decide whether you can submit to what the Drazu Supremacy asks of your character. You, not your characters, must learn what it means to be Drazu and teach that to the Talthanians. You will have the opportunity to find joy in what it means to be Drazu.

“This world has points, like the worlds you have been in before. Rarely will these points buy a new ability for your characters. Rather, the points influence what characters are available to you and what opportunities they might find in the world. You gain points for submission and supremacy, for supporting your team, for helping Talthania, for making the difficult decisions without flinching, and perhaps even for helping our mothers and the clans should you be so blessed to find that opportunity. You lose points for holding others back, for acting out of character, and for failing to advance your quests.”

He continued, “Let me give an example of how the points work. Without points, you might end up a pleasure slave for a Drazu soldier.”

He snickered. “With enough points, you might end up a pleasure slave for a Drazu soldier.” He grinned. “I need slaves too. Imagine what you could do begging from the foot of my bed. Imagine how a favor I might grant a slave could reshape a part of the world.”

“I am coming,” General Quartz Taru said, “be ready for my arrival.” The general saluted and marched off stage.

A uniformed woman stepped onto the stage. “Listen up, Team Osman. You are about to receive your briefings on your life in Talthania. You may even have a few questions to answer—your first chance to earn points. Once you answer these questions, you are ready to enter the Drazu universe. When all of you return to your pods, your journey begins.” The video faded to the Drazu Challenge logo.

“Holy fuck!” Osman said. “That guy was intense.”

“And full of himself,” Ash agreed. “This is going to be exciting.”

“Here I was wondering what we got ourselves into,” Zara said.

“I was thinking it was cool that the bad guys are almost certainly going to win,” Ash said. “It looks like we are even supposed to help them out.”

“Can we trust what he said?” Jing asked. “Are we sure there is no way that Talthania can survive?”

“This is a crap game if we can’t,” Karmen said.

“What do you mean?” Jing asked.

“Mixing a discussion of how the points system works with false information about your goals would be bullshit. Then talking about how we get penalized for being out of character in the same breath would be way over the line.”

“That’s probably true,” Osman said. “We’ll have to keep an open mind to everything though.”

“What did you think of the points system?” Ash asked.

“I agree with Zara,” Karmen said. “This is going to be even harder than we thought.”

Jing said, “Did the rest of you get the impression it’s going to be hard because of what it puts the player through more than the quests and puzzles in game?”

“Looks like that’s going to be a big part for sure,” Ash replied.

“I am excited,” Karmen said. “The times when I have pushed myself to play a character that was a bit uncomfortable have always been really cool. That crime lord in Starlord Marines was a great example.

“Besides,” she continued, “all I have to do is get out of my own way and have fun. I am not stuck because I failed to talk to some NPC three towns back or I can’t quite get the mobs to line up to be taken out by the one combo that can actually do damage.”

Jing was glad Karmen spoke before him. He wasn’t sure he liked this focus at all, but did not want to burst Karmen’s bubble. “Yeah, I hate it when the game gets you stuck on something stupid like that,” Jing said. “I do hope there is some politics though.”

“There must be plenty of politics,” Zara said. “Convincing a world to lie down and take it after a bloody war isn’t going to be easy. Besides, any game where you position yourself as a particular person’s pleasure slave for the influence it gives you has got to have some involved intrigue.”

“Yeah, looks like Osman was wrong about not getting to play your character if they are enslaved,” Karmen said.

“Hey, I was guessing at least it locked you out until you rescued the slave. I mean think about what Drazu Premium players get up to with their slaves. I didn’t think they would stick us in that kind of situation.”

Karmen gasped. If both games were in the same instance, then a player in Drazu Challenge could actually be ordered by another player. Her heart pounded imagining doing some of the things she saw from clips of Drazu Premium. It was so taboo. If you asked her six months ago if she would degrade herself like that, she would have known it would never happen in a million years. But if she were ordered ... if she had to do it for the party ... a thrill of excitement ran up from her toes.

“I think,” Jing said, “assuming that there’s something that would be too much for Drazu Challenge to put us through is ill-advised.”

“So, who’s ready to look at their characters?” Osman asked.

Everyone was interested. Osman went first, pulling up his character on the screen.

“A banker, a refugee displaced by the bombing of Shali. Moved to Sunrise and assigned to the Vasquez family. Looks like Jing is my lover in game.”

“It’s kind of creepy that it has assigned you a lover,” Zara said.

“Convenient though,” Osman said. “Let’s take a look at Jing.” He selected the link to his lover.

Osman started reading over the screen of information. Jing was the regional head of Transmatics, appointed to his position after the entire senior leadership had been assassinated by the Drazu. Transmatics was widely believed to be the company that would most benefit from Talthania muscling in on Drazu trade. After the Talthanian military blockaded the Drazu from getting to several fringe ports, Transmatics offered to ship the cargo that had been blocked.

Osman was interrupted by Jing--the real one, not the fictional character on the screen before them--gasping. “What?” Osman asked, looking at the ashen face of his lover.

Jing pointed with a shaking finger. Osman began to read: