Free The New Order by Sean Fay Wolfe

. . fragments . . . tennis . . . danger . . . losing . . . I . . . contact . . . you . . . later . . .” There was a burst of static, and then a pop, and Sally was gone.
    Stan’s head was spinning. The Noctem Alliance had attacked them, and another attack was incoming. And she had also said something about the Tennis Machine! What did that mean? Regardless, after the attack on the Jungle Base that apparently was led by Leonidas, Stan had no qualms about deciphering the information given to him by Sally, and acting on it.
    â€œStan, what happened?” Archie asked when Stan walked back into the common room. “Charlie told us that you’ve been in contact with Sally? How is that? She’s dead, Stan.”
    â€œI know that, but somehow she’s found a way to partially hack her way back on to the server, and I can hear hervoice,” said Stan, ignoring the looks of skepticism on Archie’s and DZ’s faces. “She contacted me once before, and told me that Leonidas was alive, and that he and Caesar were raising some kind of force. I thought I was dreaming it at first, but then it turns out that a well-equipped force led by Leonidas just took over the Jungle Base! It can’t just be a coincidence.”
    Archie and DZ were staring at Stan wide-eyed, knowing that he was telling the truth even though they weren’t sure how it could be possible.
    â€œOkay, we get that,” said Charlie after a moment, “but what did she say to you just then? That is why you ran out, isn’t it?”
    â€œYeah, it is,” Stan replied. “She just told me an attack was incoming, and that the Tennis Machine was a danger.”
    There was a pause. Then . . .
    â€œAre you losing your mind, Stan?” asked DZ.
    â€œStan, how can the Tennis Machine be a danger? It’s just a recreation thing,” reasoned Charlie.
    â€œI don’t know, I wasn’t the one who said it!” yelled Stan.
    â€œOkay, okay, let’s disregard that for a second,” said Archie. “What was that about an inbound attack?”
    â€œI don’t know,” said Stan. “Her voice was cut off by static half the time.”
    â€œStan, it’d be nice if your dead girlfriend could be a little less vague,” said DZ with an exasperated chuckle.
    â€œWell, seeing as we don’t have any real idea what the upcoming attack is, or when it’s coming, I say the only thing we can really do is prepare our military,” said Charlie. “I’ll alert the soldiers to do double duty in patrolling our walls, and I’ll send messengers out to tell all our outposts to do the same. DZ, can you go and tell Ben to get the police to step it up, too?”
    â€œAye aye, Captain,” replied DZ, and he stood up and crossed the room to the door that led to the stairwell with the courtyard at the bottom.
    â€œWhat do you want me to do, Charlie?” asked Archie. Stan’s eyebrow twitched. He almost resented that Archie asked for a command from Charlie rather than him. On the other hand, he did feel rather disgruntled at the moment, and it probably showed.
    â€œI want you to go out and finish the preparations,” said Charlie with a grin. “We’ve still got to have Elementia Day, don’t we?”
    â€œThat we do,” boomed Archie, and he swept out of the room after DZ.
    â€œI’m gonna see what I can do to reconnect with Sally,” said Stan. “Maybe she can tell us more about this attack.”
    â€œGood thinking, Stan,” said Charlie as he stood up and went the way of Archie and DZ.
    Stan walked out of the common room back to hisquarters, and he lay down on the bed. Stan focused all his being on Sally, hoping there was some iota of chance that she could reconnect with him.
    But Sally didn’t reconnect with him. Not in his bedroom, not when Archie told him it was time for the celebrations to begin, not during the pig race when Charlie