Like clockwork, students packed the halls of Stratton Student Center just before noon. Though the crowds turned far more orderly compared to the semester's start, Mark contemplated finding an alternate dining location. Unfortunately, he knew no other option offered similar accessibility or convenience for his available time. He once again considered and decided against an off-campus lunch.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Still walking, Mark peeked at the screen. Ivan's grinning face danced on the screen. Perplexed, he answered the call. “Hey Ivan. Odd time for a call.”

Ivan asked, referring to the Wraith's out-of-game chat application.

“Wait, right now?” Mark asked. “I'm in the middle of the lunch crowd.”

Ivan said.

Are you sure this can't wait until after class? Mark sighed. “Fine. I'll see you in lab later.”

With that, the phone beeped, signaling the call's end.

And just like that, you keep me busy during lunch. Mark smiled. Not that I had anything important to do.

Mark made his way through the deli line, and once his lunch was acquired, he stepped out of the food court hoping to find a suitable place to both eat and contact Ecks. Unfortunately, the din of student conversations forced him out the building. To his dismay, all the benches outside of it were occupied. He marched across Massachusetts Avenue in search of a quiet nook of campus. Eventually, Mark found peace under a tree at Killian Court.

Dropping onto the cool lawn, he leaned against the tree's trunk and put on a wireless earphone. Then, Mark propped up his tablet and connected to the org's voice server. The program conveniently served both as an internet voice service and an interface with Parallax Gate's in-game station comms. At a glance, only Eckos and Guinea were present, according to his client list.

Eckos said,

“It's my lunch time, I've got about thirty minutes before I have another class,” Mark said. “So Ecks, what do you have for me?” Mark asked.

Ecks voice bubbled through the tablet speaker.

“I'm not surprised,” Mark said. “Parallax has players from all over the world, but I'd bet most of the Suns are west of the Atlantic.”

Ecks said.

“Okay, I'll take a look.”

Ecks mumbled.

“You know gates don't work that way,” Mark snorted. “We'd never pull enough asteroids to blanket the gate's surface in time.”

Ecks sighed.

“It's a game. Try not to think about it too much,” Mark chuckled. “Not a bad idea though.”

“Yes, but that depends on how much time we have.” Mark glanced at his inbox.

As promised, Eckos had also sent a list of the Suns' kill records for the entire history of the org, complete with dates, times, systems, and participants cataloged for thousands of kills. Surprisingly, he also received illustrative charts of those kills records, plotted for the time of day and week with additional figures detailing the trends of their org activity levels. Their presentation quality rivaled that of a published article.

“Wow, Ecks, when did you manage to get all this done?”

he said.

“Do we know where their base is?” Mark asked. “Would be nice to estimate their transit time.”

“Alright.” Mark turned back to his bagged lunch and pulled his wrap from its container. A notification icon alerted him to another unread message, this one from Regina with the subject line 'Schedules'.

Since when did Regina use email to contact us? Eating his lunch, Mark tapped the screen to view its contents.

Ecks interrupted him.

“Oh, sorry.” Mark tapped the microphone icon on his tablet to mute himself. Glancing back to Regina's email, Mark's eyes went wide upon seeing the contents. Indeed, they were schedules, but those belonging to Lindsey and Chris. Lindsey's also included reservations for all her time with Chris. Seriously Regina? Are you sure you should be sharing this around?

Ecks announced.

Mark shook his head and put down his half-finished wrap before turning his mic on again. “Where are they?”

“Altostratus? Where's that?” It wasn't a commonly known system, to Mark's knowledge.

Nine jumps… They're coming a long way to wage war. The heat map Ecks sent dotted the standard system map with a rainbow of color, with each kill being a point on the map and its color representing how long ago the event occurred. Without a doubt, most the Suns' recent kills centered around the Altostratus system. “Good work Ecks. That means about two hours of transit if we factor in refueling midway, right?”

“Oh... they won't attack tonight.” Mark mark recalled the files he received from Regina. Thankfully for the Wraiths, Chris had a nighttime club meeting to attend, and according to Regina, he was dead set on participating in the upcoming battle. “I got some intel. An ace pilot of theirs, who's involved in this, has-”

Mark paused. While it wasn't unreasonable for Regina to know their schedules, and Mark himself could be considered an acquaintance of the two, he thought spreading it beyond them would have repercussions. Isn't this stuff still technically personal information?

“Sorry, I shouldn't say too much,” Mark said. “But he's otherwise occupied.”

Because Regina handed me the personal schedules of both the ace and his girlfriend. Mark shook the thought away. “It's best if I didn't say.”

Ecks' voice wavered.

“No…” Mark cringed. Looking up at the cloudy sky, he said, “No, I didn't. Let's just say I knew him and his PG tag from before, but he doesn't know who I am in-game.”

“You don't need to tell me,” Mark sighed. I can't believe Ivan actually suggested this.

Mark closed his eyes and rested his head against the tree. “I know… It's not like I'm actively spying on the guy, but we can't exactly forget what we know from real life just because it might provide us an advantage in game.”

“Thanks Ecks. Chat with you later then.” With a few taps on the screen, the client disconnected. Unease gnawed at his gut. Mark looked down at his half-finished lunch, but even his favorite lunchtime selection no longer appeared appetizing. He checked his tablet again, and the two schedules stared back. Irked, he swiped them out of sight. I have to talk to Ivan about this…

The food went back into its box, which in turn Mark shoved into his bag alongside his tablet. Student traffic had increased as he wrapped up the conversation, indicating that the imminence of his next class. After brushing himself off, Mark turned towards the neighboring walkway and headed off to find Ivan.

I hope Regina hasn't dug herself too deep…

Later that afternoon, Ivan joined Mark at the Overlook Cafe. The popular coffee shop, located on the outskirts of the MIT campus, overlooked the Charles River and offered its patrons an unobstructed view of the Boston skyline. By chance, Ivan managed to claim a table by the window among the crowd of students. Now, with steaming espresso drinks before them, the two sat waiting for Regina to join them.

Ivan leaned back into his seat glancing at the pedestrian traffic below them. “So Mark, why'd you arrange a meeting like this?” he asked.

“The spying thing,” Mark said. “It doesn't sit right with me, and talking with Ecks earlier reinforced that.”

Ivan shrugged. “Orgs spy on each other all the time. It's the only chance we have of defending the system.”

“So you asked Regina to use her personal relationships for the sake of the org?”

“Yes, why?” Ivan thought back to their earlier meeting in game. “I suppose you weren't comfortable, but Regina agreed, right?”

Aero sighed, resting his head against his fist. “Remember how you told me you wanted to avoid drama within the guild?”

“Yeah, don't want any personal hostilities to disrupt the org dynamics after all.” Ivan picked his mug up for another sip. He recalled a time he attempted to mediate between two cliques in a previous game. The frustration of the group's collapse remained to this day. I really don't want a repeat of Fifth Sanctuary after all…

“Did it cross your mind that you're setting her up for those very hostilities, and with people she knows in real life?”

Oh. Ivan froze with his mug still at his lips. Fuck.

“And also,” Mark continued, “if this gets out, those same people are at this school and know me too.”

Seriously Ivan!? How did you forget something so obvious? Indeed, Ivan wanted to avoid interpersonal drama at all costs, but for some reason, he asked Regina to risk those very heartaches. Mentally chastising himself, Ivan set down his mug. The reason dawned on him in moments. “Sorry Mark, I was too focused on defending the dominion.”

“You need to say that to Regina,” Mark said. “Actually, we both owe her an apology.”

“You're right.” Ivan nodded. “Let's hope she hasn't gone too far without realizing it.”

The two sat without another word being exchanged between them. Ivan stared out the window, observing the evening rush hour traffic as they waited. As the minutes ticked by, he contemplated how to best repair any damage he might have caused.

“Hi guys,” Regina appeared behind him with her own cup in hand. With a pleasant smile, she took the empty seat by Mark. “What did you want to talk about?”

“Regina.” Before Ivan realized, Mark spoke up. “When, and how, did you get those schedules that you sent me this morning?”

“Lindsey gave them to me after breakfast,” Regina said, sipping away at her drink.

“And what did you ask her exactly?”

“I just told her I wanted to arrange some activities, and that having their schedules would help,” Regina responded, her head tilted at an angle. “Why do you ask?”

Oh that's not too bad. Ivan relaxed in his seat and took another sip of his cooling coffee. Perhaps we can get away with an apology to that Chris guy.

“I, actually, we think it'd be better if you don't fish any more intel from those two,” Mark said.

“Huh? Don't we need that to protect the dominion?” Regina's eyes went wide. “We aren't giving up, right?”

“No, we aren't. Calm down for a second.”

It seemed those words alone dispersed her anxiety. Ivan grinned. You two really get along well. When are you going to ask her out, Mark?

“Anyways,” Mark continued, “I'm worried that this spying business will destroy your relationship with Chris. He's your roommate’s boyfriend too, right? So it's not just your relationship with him, but also with Lindsey that might be damaged.”

“That guy might think you put our in-game holdings above his friendship,” Ivan added. “And that perception will become his reality. So you shouldn't go any farther.”

“Oh…” she looked down at her mug. “I didn't think of it that way…”

“That's okay, Regina,” Ivan said. “I should've considered that too, but got caught in the moment. I'm sorry I asked it of you.”

“I also should've stepped in earlier,” Mark said. “So let me apologize too.”

“Oh, no, don't,” Regina sat back, hands before her. “I didn't think about it either.”

“Anyways, if it's just their two schedules, then it won't be hard to smooth things out,” Ivan grinned. “We're lucky you didn't go any farther.”

“Yeah,” Mark said. “How about we come clean with Chris once this is all over?”

“Uh...” A sheepish grin appeared on Regina's face. “Actually, I… found out the Suns are attacking tomorrow evening.”

The sounds of the coffee shop overtook the silence at their table. Ivan's mind ran in circles, but he soon settled on a single thought.

Fuck.