The room buzzed with agreement. The General cocked his head, squinting at me. "You Jesuit bastard! Now I can see you are a Dark Knight and not some emo elf. In any case, it's a good job that deleveling makes them lose their stats and talent points, or we could get level 10 mobs with level 100 skills, if not more. It might actually work. They'll lose a couple years' game. In any case, a chain of a few hundred deaths does hurt to say the least. I look forward to listening to the two remaining ideas."

With his supreme approval, I went on, "The rest is easy. We ban them from the Russian cluster. A territory ban. Let them go play with the Asians or North Americans, whoever. And finally, we can put them on the alliance Kill on Sight list. Hopefully, on the cluster list. Then anyone who meets them is potentially obliged to kill them, at least within the Russian area of responsibility. That's how I see it."

The General slammed his enormous hands down on the table. "I love it! Any objections?"

"I'd torture them into vegetables first," someone mumbled.

"We are not them!" the General spoke up. "But I think I know what you mean. We're not going to create a complete penitentiary system. I suggest we accept the 4DKP system as the base. Once all four boxes are ticked, any repeat offense will result in a brain kill."

Looking at the puzzled faces around, I voiced our question as someone not tied by military protocol. "What's 4DKP?"

The General seemed to anticipate both the question and his answer, "4DKP stands for Four Death Knight's Punishments. Stripping one first of his possessions, then of his level, his home and finally, his life by putting him on the KOS list. You'll go down in the annals as the creator of the shortest penal code in history."

He guffawed. Others joined in. Apparently, my system appealed to them. It didn't look as if this world would need lawyers any time soon.

The discussion went on. They spoke about the possibility of leaking the information into the real-life media hoping to make a few waves. Dan declined the idea point blank.

"We'll be sitting on a ticking bomb," he said. "Once they hear about virtual violence and potential identity destruction, they may limit game access, causing the numbers of new players to plummet. That will directly affect the nature of the newcoming perma players. For all we know, the powers that be may confiscate the servers and install them in some secret underground lab to experiment on us. Are you sure? I suggest we put the fear of God into the admins and demand the introduction of the quick death option."

For a brief moment he paused, his stare clouding over. "Here, I've got a message from the Olders. They suggest we don't do anything we might regret later. They ask us to retract our ultimatum. The Cats are willing to negotiate. Apparently, some of those responsible for torture are already in custody while others have either escaped or logged out."

"Yeah, right," Captain Scarface cringed. "Next thing we'll hear that those in custody have somehow lost their mental abilities. All we'll receive will be a couple of butt boys and a few bodies battered beyond recognition. Been there, done it IRL."

"The Olders offer all victims a guaranteed compensation. They also demand we introduce a common protectorate of the Crystal. They suggest using it for its intended purpose, in order 'to control individuals with antisocial and psychopathic tendencies'. As if! The Cats agree to hand over the castle for that purpose—for five million compensation! They don't want much, do they?"

The General shook his head in mock surprise. "Those bastards had it all covered behind our backs, that much is obvious."

I jumped up. "We need to destroy the Crystal!"

"Sit down," the General waved my suggestion away. "Everybody here understands that. The boot is on the other foot now. We're not accepting their charity. We'll rid the world of the Cats. We'll see what we can do to destroy the crystal. Dan, your job is to play for time. We'll need it to discuss the situation with other Alliance members. We also need to complete the call-up. That wretched dome shield! Without it, we could have dropped onto them one dark night and drowned them in their own blood in under ten minutes, special-service style. But now..."

I leaned toward Scarface sitting next to me. "What's the problem with the dome? Is it so hard to deactivate?"

The captain made a face. "The one over the Forest Castle is an eight-hour job for the entire clan. Double that if the Cats' wizards can sustain the dome from inside, then double it again to allow for any expected resistance: surprise attacks, rogues and NPCs, and saturation attacks. Add to it the exorbitant expense of elixirs and accumulating crystals. War is never cheap."

Oh, well. I sat there, thinking. I really didn't want to disclose my Astral Mana Dispersal spell but it was perfect for this particular job. We had to punish the Cats and destroy the Crystal. Also, raising a bit of money wouldn't go amiss, considering I'd put my foot in it again.

I PM'd Dan. I know how to deactivate the dome.

For a moment, he stared at me, failing to keep his emotions in check. Then he switched on his poker face and froze, forwarding my message to the general.

Frag exercised a much better self-control. He didn't stop discussing their call-up plans—he took his time finishing it up, then announced a smoke break. "Max, I need you. You too, Dan."

He waited for the last officer to clear the room, watched the door slam shut, then turned to me. "Speak up."

I glanced at Winnie the Pooh. I had a bad feeling about that sideways squint of his. I turned to Dan, "Are you sure this thing here is not a mole?"

Winnie bared his teeth. Dan cast a cautious glance in his direction. "He's worse than a roach: you just can't kill him. He respawns in under a minute. You can't lock him out as he uses micro portals to jump any wall. To make things worse, we've trapped him once and ported him to the Asian cluster, so now he keeps a safe distance from everyone."

I didn't believe my ears. "How did he make it back?"

"You tell me. The same evening, he was sitting here by the fireplace."

"That's enough," Frag lost his patience. "Find some other time to discuss your albino panda. Max, your turn. How are you going to deactivate the dome? Just don't tell me you have access to the control artifact."

I sighed and began, "There was this dungeon I mopped up once..."

I fed them a slightly edited version of the 'how I laid my hands on a High Circle spell' story. "If you can arrange for a continuous mana flow, the dome will be down in two minutes max."

The General had already left his desk and was pacing the room, rubbing his hands. He stopped in his tracks, causing his coat to sweep around his legs, and swung about, pointing his finger at me. "Now. Not a word to anyone about anything. I don't need to tell you. We'll fuck the Cats up. Tomorrow, five a.m.. Only the old timers, levels one hundred-plus. We deploy both special units: Scarface and Savage. A hundred and fifty men should be enough to take over the place and mop it up. Plus another two hundred to help restrain the detained Cats. Dan, you call up the senior officer meeting. In an hour in my office."

"There could be over two hundred Cats," Dan pointed put. "Plus NPCs. If anything, they can afford to hire all the men they want. Plus teleports. With only a hundred fifty in the first wave, we risk letting them jump ship."