Chapter 2

The twelve-person squad is in a moment of silent contemplation. All trying to center themselves into a balanced emotional state. Trying to find clarity within the storm of adrenaline, fear, and self-doubt. Danny is nervous. But he’s a natural. He is a student of the game. As such he has studied the tactics of the fire teams from the time of real combat, which is now extinct on his planet. He knows that the major difference between them and the real soldier of the barbaric past is the mindset. The classical soldier never had to concern himself with celebrity. With looking like a star for the cameras. Danny’s father, Alex, is a psychologist and helped him develop the right mindset for this sport. Taught him that despite the myths that surrounded war in the times of antiquity, the lowly soldier never went into battle thinking about their country, their family, or morality. It was about the survival of themselves and their brothers and sisters in arms.

He looks at the squad. Making eye contact with each of them to signal that he has something to say.

It’s about us out there. It’s not about our country; It’s not about the critics; it’s not about the medals. It’s about taking care of each other. We define ourselves, out there. Anybody else’s definition of us does not matter. They expect us to be the technical team. That, if the U.S. beats us, they will beat us with their nastiness. We’re going to show them how nasty we can be. We’re going to give them different looks. As we head out to the first target, we’re going in a line formation. When we split up, Alpha and Bravo will flank to the north and south of the target. Take our post on blocks and pick off any targets we can. Charlie and Delta will wait until the perimeter is clear enough for a whole unit assault on the target. They will have two units there and move them back if it looks like the target is about to fall. That’s how these boys play defense. Let’s cut them off on the escape.

DIZAM! The squad yells. The unofficial team name. The voice of the coach comes through their coms, which is a microphone and receiver inside of a small plastic sticker stuck behind their ears. Time to suit up. Danny likes when the coach announces this. It’s standard, but it’s comforting. He pictures coach from his position as the eye in the sky, commanding a fleet of drones over the battlefield from a control tower above the team’s base. It reminds him to protect the team’s drones and target the opposition.

The squad begins pressing a button on each of their sleeves. What looks like a thick clear film connected to a long U-shaped metal wire emerges from the back of their necks and passes over their heads. The U-shaped wire is hinged to a railing installed on their bodysuit’s neckline. The wire constricts automatically, sealing itself to the railing and the film becomes solid and spherical, locking their heads in a minimalist kind of astronaut helmet.

They put on the face shields, complete with neck protectors. They are big enough to fit over the pressure bubble helmet, and each member has a different design. Danny’s design is of a dragon’s head wearing a crown. Made of a lightweight aluminum nano fiber. He looks at his best friend Nick’s helmet. It’s a large replica of Homer Simpson’s head. A red light comes on. An artificial voice announces, Air lock opening in 2 minutes. The squad boards their four military looking dune buggies. Danny takes the wheel of his unit’s vehicle. The electric engines start. A loud buzz cuts through the silence. The giant airlock vault door clanks and whirs as the air hisses out of the seal.

Danny loves watching the massive door open on the gargantuan metal structure. Every time is like the first. The nerves, adrenaline, and tunnel vision is pushed to the background as he takes in the blessing of the whole event. Happening during the two weeks of that region’s turn in the sun, the chalky grey sand outside seems luminescent. Danny gets in the zone as he plots the path through the track covered dunes. The buggies begin to shred through the lunar desert with Danny leading the formation. He loves how the two walls of sand are kicked up by the front wheels. He looks up at the earth just as his team’s drones flying overhead. The scenery, the panic, the comradery, it’s the most beautiful thing in life to him. Besides meeting his daughter, wife, and parents at the astroport. If he was completely honest, he loves this a little bit more. He hates the ritual of the family reunion. He loves seeing his daughter’s joyful face. But he wishes that he could isolate himself after the blissful trauma that are these Olympic games. He tells himself he should enjoy it while it lasts. His daughter won’t be little forever. And there aren’t many of these trips left in him.

Danny can see the mock city ahead. Paintball pellets start flying around the vehicle. A grenade arches and explodes right above them. Peppering the two lead vehicles’ roofs with a rainbow of paintball splatters. Danny looks up to the giant holographic screen Two squad members have been hit in limbs, according to the body sensors. They’re still in the match, but one more to the limbs and they’re out. He breaks away to the left and watches Nick’s vehicle directly behind veer to the right in his rear view. Danny can see the tower of the first target as he navigates through the house-sized, matte-blue, blocks that surround it in a grid. A faux city, with the capture point in the middle. There are opponents taking their positions at the top of the tower.

He stops at a block south of the tower. There is a pickup truck sized box next to a larger one-story-house-sized box. All three have a ten-foot vertical in this gravity, which allows them to reach the top of the larger box in two leaps.

Danny aims his gun at the top of the tower. They’re shooting at something in the sky. They’re taking out the drones! Danny screams out as he begins firing. Suddenly he can see something falling fast in his direction.

The drone rips his head off. A one-in-a-million shot.