I do not understand it is getting to the point where I am getting angry over it. I want to get my conceal carry, because it is getting to be too much.
I can't go to a store alone without being harassed. The amount of stories I have are endless. I cover up my body from head to toe and it still happens no matter what. Last week I gained the balls to go to a store alone twice in one week. The first time I spent awhile in the store, because I had a ton of things I needed to get. I was actually surprised and glad that no one harassed me until an hour into shopping someone did. He kept saying gross things and following me through each isle trying to gain my attention. I would not make eye contact and called my husband and decided to check out. I didn't get to finish shopping.
Then within the same week at another store I decided to go early Easter shopping and a man kept yelling at me from outside the parking lot and I ignored him. He then came into the store and came up to me not long after asking why I ignored him. I was caught off guard and said, "because it's not safe anymore so who knows who I am dealing with." He then goes on to say he meant no harm, but yet kept asking me personal details and questions. I told him I was busy and needed to get back to shopping and that I was in a rush, but he still wouldn't stop.
Just to narrow it down on why I feel like it has created trauma for me:
1: I had a situation sitting outside of a Starbucks drinking coffee with my two friends a man kept honking at me from the parking lot. He blocked cars from leaving and got out his car and came up to me. He was very random and my friends told me to ignore him.
2: Made a couple argue at a subway. Her man called me good looking and his girl agreed. He wouldn't stop making comments so she got pissed and stormed out. When she left he kept trying to hit on me and the subway employee looked at me and said she was so sorry that people were weird.
3: At another shop this wasn't directed at me, but I was pregnant and I watched another man and his wife attempt robbery on a women in the store. *cause you know they view women as easy targets.*
4: My son was almost taken at a Walmart from his stroller. A man was acting off beside us in the freezer isle. My husband was by the stroller and pointed to and item he wanted me to grab from the freezer. I didn't know what he was point too so he left our sons stroller to show me. My instincts kicked in cause I knew that man was acting odd to begin with so I went to look at my sons stroller the moment my husband walk away from it and the man was reaching for his stroller. I jumped in front of his hand and rushed out the store. My first thought is safety first. Because, I have no idea what this mans mental state is and if he will act out I act out so I just left while my husband was of course confused about what even happened. I didn't explain to him until I got my son safe in the car.
I could keep going, but it would be never ending. I could talk about what happened when I was pregnant too, but all I can say is this makes me so angry. My family thinks I hate men, but now I feel like its more trauma then anything. My mom was shot during a homicide attempt from her husband. Many women were molested in my family by men and just a couple days ago my brother in law choked out his wife and she left him. It has ALWAYS been the men around me that have become violent. My dad is an awesome man and gives me hope that there are still good men out there. I know its not ALL men obviously. I'm in school and we just went over statistics and what I am saying is all true. Why can't MOST men leave women alone. Let us live. Most of us do not want your attention and we don't care for it. There are many places to hit on women, maybe even social events, but even then there is a way to approach. Never touch a women, never follow her, and never approach her when she's shopping!! I want my conceal carry and will not go anywhere alone again until I do so. A girl died because she told a man harassing her "NO". I'm not trying to loose my life over someones ego. My son is 4 and I have yet to take him to a store alone with just me & him and I HATE IT!

So about a week ago, a friend of mine told me I might be autistic. They've been doing these jokes about me being autistic for a while now and I finally had the genius idea to ask them about it. They explained that ramblings, several months or even years lasting hyperfixations and needing tone tags are signs of autism and that I should look it up.
So I did, I did look it up. I found a few lists of autism symptoms in teens and circled and wrote down the ones that I related to, which was, surprisingly, almost the entire list. The only things that I didn't relate to was the struggle with eye contact. I didn't have that but I do remember having it before, my parents scold me a lot and want me to look at their eyes when they do that so I eventually learned to look at someone but I still try to somewhat avoid it to this day.
Now this, of course, got me concerned. I tried to look at my past and question my mom about my childhood and this even seemed to confirm my suspicions even more. My mom told me she even suspected it before but never took me to a doctor and directly shut me down and told me I was a healthy baby.
In this time, I also talked to people with knowledge of psychology, who weren't surprised that I might be autistic, some of my friends suspecting it for a long time and all of them telling me to get tested. I also talked to diagnosed autistic people and they also seemed to confirm even more of my suspicions. One of these psychologically knowledged people is my brother, who actually provided me some other explanations on some of the symptoms I may have, such as tying "not understanding sarcasm or jokes" to me having little to no social skills because I barely talk with people, so I was genuinely open for any kind of response. I wanted to get tested at the time of an appointment.
So there it came, the day of my weekly appointment. I straight up told my therapist that I suspected I have autism, showing him a list of symptoms that I related to as well as expanding on those symptoms, giving examples of my past and present despite him telling me, at the moment I said I suspected autism, that I do not have autism.
He later on asked me a few questions about the fact that I don't understand metaphors after I didn't shut up about the symptoms I related to. He gave me a lot of examples and the only exams I could guess were the ones that I've generally heard all the time and believe me I was genuinely confused. He then proceeded to show me a video of the life of an autistic person, which was a video of a child who was being distracted by every single voice they heard or every single thing they saw. That hit quite a bit close to home but I knew every person in the spectrum is different so I didn't think much of it.
​
However, he then proceeded to tell me that we were wasting time talking about this because I was not autistic, in his 20 year work experience he hasn't seen anyone autistic like me and that autism was a serious topic. I told him that I knew that and that I wasn't making this up and that I wanted a definitive answer yet he kept denying everything I told him. I, refusing to give up, told him to let me get tested because I related to so many things and I refused to believe this was a coincidence, he straight up told me they're normal developmental problems without even dwelling that much on it, and that relating to three things doesn't immediately make you have that disorder. (Reminder that I explained all of my symptoms, which was a massive list, but he didn't even hear me out at first but I just wasn't shutting up).
In the end, I am not satisfied, no one explained to me why I'm not autistic and he didn't even explain to me why I have all of those symptoms other than saying "they're normal developmental problems", I genuinely want to get tested to put my mind to rest. What am I able to do in this situation? If any of you have went through similar things please tell me, I want any advice I could get.

part 1: We did not plan for this (1)
part 2: We did not plan for this (2)
Part 3:
Nox woke up and starting getting dressed. He made sure his uniform was impeccable; today was an important day, he was finally getting his own Drop Unit. After checking his uniform was perfect for the third time, he put on his shoulder pad indicating his clan and left his appartement. When locking the door behind him, his neighbour, Frag, was also leaving his appartement.
Frag was a Karsouf, an alien species the Empire had discovered during their exploration for possible outposts in preparation for the war with the ISSPC. The Karsouf were despite their appearance a very peaceful species. Their scaly skin was covered in sharp thorns and their backs full of very long needles, similar to the remaining descriptions of a hedgehog. When the humans came into contact with them a war almost started but was luckily avoided.
“Finally having that promotion, I see, said Frag.
- Yeah, finally my own Drop Unit. After six months on a ship only coming into contact with one ISSPC ship, I thought it would never happen. Nox replied.
- I can imagine. I still wonder why you won’t let non-human species fight in this conflict.
- You know very well it’s because this conflict only concern humans, they destroyed our home planet, it is for us to fight in this war.
- Yeah, I know it’s just annoying some times.”
While it was true that the Karsouf were a peaceful species, once they had started fighting, they were unstoppable.
Nox nodded at Frag and left the building, the dark black uniform of the Dropper, as they were called, making it seem a shadow was waking in the halls. He started heading in the direction of the barracks. The civilians in the street making way for him and making a nod to him. Droppers were a feared and respected unit of the Empire’s military; they were highly trained individuals in hand-to-hand combat, weapons, explosives and guerrilla warfare. I was said that a single dropper could destroy a military base. They were easily recognised by their uniform: deep black military trousers, a navy-blue shirt and a trench coat with a military pattern of various shades of black. Nox’s shoulder pad complemented well this uniform, the pad was of a black background with a red wolf head on it, the symbol of Clan Aka.
Clan Aka were special among the humans of the Empire; because of the planet on which their colony was settled, they had evolved slightly differently. While most humans of the empire were similar in every way to the humans of old, a few clans had gained special attributes as a result from the planets on which they settled, the Aka clan settled on the planet Volcanilis.
Volcanilis was a very harsh planet to live on, most of the sky was grey from the ash released by the omnipresent volcanos of the planet, volcanos that forced the human colony to live underground in extremely hot vents. This led the humans of the colony to develop eyes capable of seeing in the dark, a capacity to withstand extreme temperatures, a very hard skin and a high tolerance for pain. This made members of the Aka clan desirable soldiers for the Empire; however, the night vision eyes of the clan also made it very hard for them to withstand the brightness needed by other humans, leading some of them to become blind. Nox was lucky, his eyes were considered defective on Volcanilis, it was harder for him to see in the dark but it also allowed him to handle the brightness better. Like most humans he had wanted to join the army since is youth, and because of his origins he was quickly promoted through the ranks.
A week ago, he had received news that he would be promoted and given a very special mission. Today was the day where he would find out what that mission was. He finally arrived at the barracks the guards at the entrance saluted him, they looked at him intensely, humans of the Aka clan were rarer than diamonds, it was the first time they saw one. Nox quickly walked through the halls of the buildings, quickly glancing at the mosaics on the walls. The mosaics depicted various moments of the Empire, its creation, the meeting with various species, inaugurations of monuments and more. He stopped walking when he arrived in front of General Murat’s office. He knocked on the door and entered:
“Lieutenant Nox Aka reporting for duty sir.
- At ease Lieutenant, replied the general, I assume you know why you were summoned to my office.
The general stood up and started looking at Nox.
- I do not, sir.
- Please we both know rumours here go around faster than a bottle of vodka in these barracks. Anyway, you are being promoted to Captain, given your own Drop Unit, as well as you own ship crew.”
Nox was stunned, he knew he was getting his own team, but a whole ship crew. Ship crew were generally given to officers with the rank of Colonel or higher.
The general continued: “Since the ISSPC found a way to fight back against our strategy, we have been losing quite a few vessels. The general turned around and started looking out the window, as such we have been trying to find new ways to fight them, so we decided to make a special team, a team that you will lead. Your mission is simple, you and your crew will go behind enemy lines and create as much chaos as possible.”
Nox started thinking, it was a good plan, attacking on two fronts would weaken the ISSPC considerably, and this would simultaneously prevent from reducing the main combat force considerably.
“I assume you wonder why we chose someone as young as you, the general suddenly added while facing Nox, you have been in the army only one year, and have been in only three ship attack total. Well, it is true your clan influenced the decision, he said while pointing at the shoulder pad, the main reasons were that you had a rank that was high enough to give you command and low enough not to cause a major loss in the military’s hierarchy, and while only participating in three attacks, you were the one who took the most enemy lives during them.”
The General made a sign to Nox, indicating him to follow, and started walking down the halls. “You are given a small battle ship, he started explaining, and you crew will be composed of a pilot, an engineer, and your Drop Unit, you will also be given a bit of equipment, but the rest will be for you to obtain, we will not be able to resupply you once you are behind enemy lines.
- Who is part of my Drop Unit sir, Nox asked.
- We have assigned you three people, said the general with a smile. Shock, a member of the Chain Clan, he is trained in explosive and weapon maintenance. Beth, a member of the Stone clan, a specialist in covert missions and an engineer, and finally Jack, a member of the Sparrow clan, a sharpshooter.
- Sir, the team is only composed of people from ‘special’ clans, said Nox.”
The “special clans” Nox was talking about were the clans that varied from the basic human morphology. The Chain clan settled on a planet which was later discovered to contain extremely high quantities of titanium, and that all flora and fauna of the planet also contained high amounts, this led the clan to over time become “metal men”, their skin was 50% titanium, making them extremely hard to kill. The Sparrow clan, did not settle on a particularly special planet, outside of the fact that the planet had extremely high mountains, the settlers decided to utilise their advanced gene manipulation technology to give themselves wings for easier movement, this accidently also gave them “eagle eyes” giving them incredible vision. While the Stone clan were named ironically as they were from a water planet, they developed gills, webbed hands and feet and the ability to handle extreme pressure.
“That is correct, we choose them because of their capacity to fight in most environments giving you more targets. And they all had problems in their previous units.”
The general opened the door to a hangar, inside was a single cargo ship retrofitted with weapons and technology for deep space travel. Next to it was a table with five people in different uniforms playing what seemed like a heated game of cards. One of the members of the group realised the duo was there, got up and saluted the General and Nox, the others soon followed.
The general then exclaimed “Well men, this is Captain Nox, your new CO. He will be leading you on this mission, and hopefully bring you all back alive, which made the General laugh loudly. We also designed a new uniform for you all.”
The General waved his hand and two aids appeared only boxes, one for each member of the crew. Inside were three sets of the same uniform, the uniform was the same as any Drop Unit’s uniform except for a navy-blue owl holding a sword and shield on the back of the trench coat.
“The owl is the symbol of your new unit. You have been dubbed ‘The Knight Owls’. Knight as in ‘knights of the round table’. The general laughed at his pun, now all jokes aside, put on your uniforms and get going.”
The general turned around and left the hangar, the crew looked at Nox.
“Crew, as the general said, go change into the new uniform, get your packs and be ready to leave. You have 5 minutes.”
The crew separated and started preparing themselves. Nox looked at the crew, Shock was as ‘metal’ as a member of the Chain clan could be, he had silver hair, silvegrey skin and grey eyes, he had a clearly muscular body and his arms were covered in scars. Beth was slim with light blue skin, her hair was a mix of crystal blue and deep red and Jack was, ironically, the most colourful of the bunch, his wings were covered of colourful feather with crimson red hair and pale white skin. The pilot and engineer were pretty average humans, their shoulder pads did not indicate that they were part of the special clans, but they clearly seemed competent.
He then looked at the ship, it wasn’t very big but it was enough to house the crew and store equipment. Nox stopped, he saw something in the cargo area of the ship, it was a TX9009. The TX9009 were a series of battle droids, the humans had created to help with managing cargo and moving boxes, they were designed to be similar to humans in structure, with two arms, two legs, ten fingers, ten toes and an oval shaped head; these were painted a pale grey. Their use was stopped when the ISSPC managed to launch a virus making them attack us.
The members of the crew started boarding the ship, the pilot and the engineer approached Nox and both said in unison while placing their right hands on their left shoulder: “May the ash stay grey and the lava red.” It was the traditionally greeting of the Aka Clan, Nox replied with “for as long as we breath and see them” as per tradition.
“How do you know of this greeting, Nox asked, few outside of the clan know about it?
- My brother and I were both adopted and raised by members of Clan Aka when our parents died, responded the pilot. We just wanted to present ourselves, I am Steve and this is my brother Josh.
- My pleasure to meet you both.”
The brothers then joined the other Knight Owls who were waiting in line. Nox looked and them and said: “Soldiers of the Human Empire, we have one mission: Create chaos behind enemy lines, are you ready to do that?
- Yes sir, they all said simultaneously with a mischievous smile on their faces.
- Good, we have been given ‘carte blanche’ for this, so let’s go have some fun, said Nox with a big smile”
The crew laughed and started embarking on the ship.
Nox smiled again, this ragtag group was now his crew. They had one clear mission, disrupt the enemy from behind the lines, and all this with complete autonomy. He knew this, where the knight owls would appear, chaos and destruction would soon follow from seeing their reaction.
Once the ship equipped, they left to perform their mission
The ISSPC had not planned for the return of humanity.
And they clearly did not plant for what was about to happen.

The Bride, also known as Beatrix Kiddo, had been on a quest for revenge for years. She had tracked down and killed every member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, including her former lover Bill. But now, she had finally reached her ultimate target, the man she had been waiting to face for so long.
She entered the dimly lit room, her eyes fixed on the shadowy figure sitting in the corner. She drew her sword and slowly approached him, her heart pounding in her chest.
As she got closer, she could see the outline of his face, and her blood ran cold. It wasn't Bill. It was someone else entirely. She lowered her sword, confused and uncertain of what to do next.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice shaking.
The man looked up at her, a puzzled expression on his face. "I'm Bill Murray," he said simply.
The Bride stood there, stunned. This wasn't what she had been expecting. She had prepared herself for a final showdown with her arch-nemesis, not an encounter with a Hollywood actor.
"What the fuck?" she muttered under her breath, trying to make sense of the situation.
Bill Murray seemed to sense her confusion. "I'm sorry, I think there's been a mistake. I'm just an actor, I don't know who you are or what you want from me."
The Bride hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. She had spent so long focused on her quest for revenge that she hadn't considered what would happen if she didn't find the right target.
Slowly, she lowered her sword and sheathed it. "I'm sorry," she said, "I must have made a mistake. I thought you were someone else."
Bill Murray nodded, relieved. "It's okay," he said, "happens all the time. Would you like an autograph or something?"
The Bride shook her head, still trying to process what had just happened. "No, that's okay. I should go."
And with that, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving Bill Murray sitting alone in the darkness.
As she left the building, she couldn't help but feel a sense of emptiness. She had spent so long consumed by her quest for revenge that she didn't know what to do now that it was over.
But as she walked away, she realized that perhaps this was her chance for a new beginning. A chance to leave her past behind and start a new life, free from the burden of her violent past.
And so, The Bride disappeared into the night, leaving behind the life of an assassin and embracing a new future, one filled with hope and possibility.

I am 49 years old and I have had my regular DL since my 16th bday. I have a restriction on my DL that requires me to have a left/driver side rear view mirror because I have impaired vision in my left eye, from birth (lazy eye). I have been told that if I take the MSF course and then present my paperwork to the DMV (Oklahoma), they do not give you an eye exam, and I can get my motorcycle endorsement by just presenting the certificate from the MSF course. However, I though I would get some more feedback from multiple sources, hence this post. I would be devastated if I could not get my endorsement as this is something I have wanted to do my entire life and I finally can. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Hey folks! I've been keeping a close eye on the lithium market, and I just came across an exciting update from Q Battery Metals. Their exploration plans for 2023 are really shaping up, and it looks like it could be a game-changer for the lithium industry. Let's dive in and see what's happening!
Summary:
Q Battery Metals has announced their 2023 exploration plans, which will focus on lithium projects in Quebec, specifically targeting the La Corne South Lithium project. This area is part of the Abitibi Greenstone belt of rocks, which is known for hosting numerous deposits and mines. The exploration plans come as demand for lithium, a key component in batteries, continues to grow with the expanding electric vehicle and renewable energy markets.
Highlighted Main Points:
Q Battery Metals' 2023 exploration plans will focus on lithium projects in Quebec
The initial program will target the La Corne South Lithium project, located in the Abitibi Greenstone belt
Nine lithium projects are located within 20 km of the La Corne South project, including Sayona Mining's North American Lithium mine
Read More Here:
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/investmentpitch-media-video-discusses-q-104000067.html
TLDR:
Q Battery Metals has announced its 2023 exploration plans, focusing on lithium projects in Quebec, potentially boosting the lithium industry and supporting the growing demand for lithium in electric vehicles and renewable energy applications.

My ex (39F) and I (29enby) still live together in a 5 bedroom split level house along with our shared partner (29enby) and one kid each. (Polyamorous triad but one side broke up). My ex has been losing mobility due to knee pain and is a part time wheelchair user.
Due to specific targeted oppression, she is unable to safely access medical care for this. Instead, we as a house bought her an electric wheelchair for long distance events and she uses a cane, or sometimes two canes, in the house. On really bad days she asks for the electric wheelchair to be brought inside to use.
The wheelchair is fking heavy, hard to get in and out of the car and up the garage stairs, takes up a lot of room, makes a loud beeping noise, and has to be brought in and out of the house often to charge it.
My ex would ask me to bring it inside occasionally. On bad days I would apologize and say I couldn't (I have loose joints and dislocate very easily) but on good days I'd bring it inside. Most of the time, if I couldn't do it then our partner would, but sometimes our partner would have to say no too since they are also disabled and had given birth less than 7 months ago.
It got to a point where the wheelchair would need to be brought back in daily. All of the prep work such as clearing space for it in the living room and car was left to me. She assumed since I was the most able bodied then it was up to me and it automatically became my responsibility. As in, I was no longer asked, I was just expected to do it. I expressed my disgruntlement that I was signed up automatically and asked if we could find something that worked for everyone. We mentioned a manual wheelchair in the kitchen. I said I'd keep my eye out at the thrift stores.
Fast forward to this week. I broke my foot. I'm in crutches and completely non weight bearing for a week. It's hard to get around so I picked up a wheelchair on my own dime. I wrote a list of a few (4) things I needed help with such as clearing the hallway and taking something heavy up the stairs.
Every time I use the wheelchair she leaves the room. She won't look at me, or talk to me, and when I asked what's up she said "I'm working through my own feelings about you using a wheelchair... I still hide and cry everyday because of how much pain I'm in." Our partner said it's because I gave push back about carrying her wheelchair yet I made a list when I asked for help. I said she could use the wheelchair if I wasn't using it.
IDK I could be the asshole for buying one for myself first. But also, she could've bought one at any time. There isn't enough room in the house for two wheelchair users.
I don't feel like I'm the asshole. I didn't sign up to help her with her wheelchair every time. I wanted to see what other options we have like our other partner helping or buying a house wheelchair. And I left space for her to say no to helping with the things on my list. But it still looks like she's pissed at me. AITA?

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Cover

41 – Too Easy

There were many ways to access the CARF. Some of them were proper, controlled and regulated, while others were less conventional and reserved only for situations that needed them. Others still were totally secret, known only to a handful of people. The one that the Cromwell-Grassman family decided to use, which was deemed the safest, required them to go through the Quadrangle. Which, considering that the Quadrangle was entirely under PsyOps control, went a long way towards explaining just how unsafe and risky the other methods were.
They had opted to move together for the most part, resorting to splitting up only when strictly necessary. It didn’t matter if they needed to break their covers this time around either, because they were going to redo the whole thing another time anyway after Albert rewound time with the Hazegem. This was a trial run, to figure out the extent of the measures set in place by the rogue operatives and the response of whatever form of hierarchy was still functioning as it was before most of the command structure got compromised.
The trip by car took a couple of hours. It could not be skipped, however, since the teleportation device Albert got from the System was still in the process of being studied, and also because he had never been to the Quadrangle himself. He sat in the rear seat of grandpa’s yellow sports car, feeling like he was on one of those family trips he remembered from his childhood but never managed to recall quite well enough. The ‘adults’, if one wants to define them that way even though Albert was an adult himself, were discussing ways to access the security measures of the Quadrangle without triggering the alarms, and making a list that would be then sent to him via text message. This way it could be preserved through time travel.
As they did so, he fiddled with the piece of junk that once was the PTD, or the teleportation device. He had no dreams of repairing it in the two hours he had, but any headway he made here was less work he would have to do later, and one never knows when yet another piece of magic could come in handy. Eventually though the Quadrangle was finally visible at the horizon, and Albert lost all interest in fixing the small circular device.
“That’s the Quadrangle?” He asked, excited. “Holy shit.”
“Oh yeah, kid.” His grandpa replied from the driver seat. “Pretty cool, eh?”
Indeed, it was like he was seeing something straight out of a science fiction movie. The Quadrangle had tall, black walls that sported a multitude of tiny windows, probes and antennae, balconies and small structures that seemed to grow out of the concrete without rhyme or reason. As they got closer, Albert realized that the structure itself was not made of concrete, but of a strange composite material that was sleek and shiny under the rays of the morning sun. Then, the structure faded from view as the family ditched the road and ventured towards a deep gorge in the desertic landscape.
Admittedly, it wasn’t much of a desert. The rains of the last few days had meant that all the greenery – plants and flowers whose seeds had been dormant in the ground for years – had bloomed and the later frost had sealed the verdant carpets of plants into a tomb of ice. The road was not well maintained at all, but Lloyd’s skilled driving meant that they reached their destination without much delay.
There were two guards standing before a steel door built in the side of the rock at the bottom of the gorge. They wore standard military uniform, their mimetic patterns adapted to the desertic landscape painting big targets of the men standing amidst the greenery and the ice. Before the car was even close, in fact, and before they could even take out their weapons, they were shot with deadly precision by Samantha poking out of the passenger window, and dropped to the ground.
“Huh,” Albert’s mother hummed, examining the weapon in her hands with interest. “Your enhancing magic really did a number on this thing. I’m impressed.”
Albert smiled, proud of his work. He had turned a simple tranq gun into a veritable assault weapon-slash-sniper capable of putting down targets from impressive distances. It cost him a lot of mana, but his regeneration was high enough that he could refill his pool in less than an hour.
“Okay. Onto the door. Usually there would be a passcode, but if we use it, they will know we are here. I’ll take care of disabling the security, Lloyd you stand watch. Albert, you do… stretching or whatever, but be ready.”
As soon as Mother gave the signal, Albert approached the door with heavy steps. His feet sunk into the ground slightly, and his body struggled to carry the heavy steel bar he took from the trunk of the car even with [Strengthening] at full power. Once he was close enough, he inhaled and charged. The thick metal bar was like a sieging ram, hitting the door with incredible force. It only took a handful of hits, and a lot of sweat on Albert’s part even in the arctic temperatures for the hinges to finally give way, and another good hit sent the door sprawling open.
Albert rushed in, right as a smoke grenade exploded at his feet, hiding him from sight. He barreled through in the accelerated speed of [Bullet Time], the shield granted to him by his ring shimmering around him to keep the smoke out, until he felt that he had seen enough and disappeared. When he reappeared from teleporting out of the tunnel, all the targets he had painted for his mother and grandfather to shoot were already down.
“Good work.” Samantha said. “Let’s go.”
***
“Don’t kill them!” The man shouted, looking at the screen. It was surrounded by other screens, all black from when the video feed was cut. “Wound them. Tire them out. But don’t kill them. I want her for myself.”
“But sir, your orders—”
“Ha! You obey me, not them.” The man said. “Your orders are the orders I give you. Nothing else. You understand?”
Beside the man, another man covered from head to toe in small trinkets made of brass and glass stood a full head shorter than him.
“Let’s go,” PsyOps said. “We have stuff to do before she arrives at the CARF.”
***
Getting to the Quadrangle was the easy part, really. It was once they got there that things became suddenly a lot more difficult. The improvised team had to traverse at least two full sides of the structure undetected, reach the secret access point to the CARF, and then hack it as to make it work without a code. Fortunately, a strange event happened as soon as they emerged from the service tunnel they used to reach the structure.
“A notification. From… the Quadrangle itself?” Samantha said, a bit shaken.
She pulled out her phone and looked at the live video feed of the room they were. There were squares painted around their heads, displaying their name and designation, all marked as friendlies. There was a square for Albert too, but instead of being green it was black with white borders, and there was no designation at all. It was disconcerting, considering that they were sure they had cut the feeds when they hacked the cameras, but even more unsettling was the message that came with the video.
>I can help you reach ACCESS:CARF#03
“Is that the Quadrangle itself speaking to you?” Lloyd asked, peeking at the footage on the phone. “Never happened to me. Lucky you.”
Samantha frowned. “Never happened to me neither, before now. I was the one talking to it, not the other way around.”
“Should we trust it?” Albert said.
Lloyd shrugged. “I say yes. We get a redo in case it was a trap.”
Thus, the hard leg of the journey became unexpectedly easy. They navigated through the complicated and dizzying maze of corridors following the instructions of the all-knowing sovereign of the place, who instructed them on which routes to take, when to stop and hide, and when to shoot their way through. No alarms were triggered during the whole journey, and although Samantha never felt quite at ease at the thought of the unexpected helper, nothing happened to make her think that she was being played.
However, things were looking a bit too easy for her tastes. And she knew full well that there was no such mission as a perfect mission. PsyOps and SpaceOps were completely missing from the picture too, which was very suspicious. Something was bound to go incredibly wrong.
***
“Albert, if you ever need to rewind, rewind back to this moment. If you do that we’ll see you disappear before our eyes and then teleport in, right?”
“Yes, that’s how it looks from the—”
Silence. Suddenly Albert looked distressed, as if in a state of panic.
“Shit. The Hazegem is gone.”
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Target User: u/SofiaStark3000
URL: /Twittecomments/11wjxn9/i_was_hacked/
Title: I was hacked
Body:
So last night I closed my eyes for half an hour and when I woke up, I had a notification that I had logged out of my account. I hadn't done that and when I tried to log in again I couldn't because password and email had been changed. I was hacked. I reported it to the support team but I have not heard from them. The only thing I got was the email that was asking for more details. How long are they going to take to reply? Anyone had a similar experience? Am I ever going to reclaim my account?
Also I've been keeping an eye on my old account through a new one but so far there's no new activity, unless they've been sending DMs to people that I have no idea about. What the hell did they want my account for if they're not going to tweet anything?

Target User: u/SofiaStark3000
URL: /Twittecomments/11wjxn9/i_was_hacked/
Title: I was hacked
Body:
So last night I closed my eyes for half an hour and when I woke up, I had a notification that I had logged out of my account. I hadn't done that and when I tried to log in again I couldn't because password and email had been changed. I was hacked. I reported it to the support team but I have not heard from them. The only thing I got was the email that was asking for more details. How long are they going to take to reply? Anyone had a similar experience? Am I ever going to reclaim my account?
Also I've been keeping an eye on my old account through a new one but so far there's no new activity, unless they've been sending DMs to people that I have no idea about. What the hell did they want my account for if they're not going to tweet anything?

Target User: u/SofiaStark3000
URL: /Twittecomments/11wjxn9/i_was_hacked/
Title: I was hacked
Body:
So last night I closed my eyes for half an hour and when I woke up, I had a notification that I had logged out of my account. I hadn't done that and when I tried to log in again I couldn't because password and email had been changed. I was hacked. I reported it to the support team but I have not heard from them. The only thing I got was the email that was asking for more details. How long are they going to take to reply? Anyone had a similar experience? Am I ever going to reclaim my account?
Also I've been keeping an eye on my old account through a new one but so far there's no new activity, unless they've been sending DMs to people that I have no idea about. What the hell did they want my account for if they're not going to tweet anything?

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Good morning everyone. Just a few quick things.
Sorry to those of you on Reddit. I messed up the tags for Part.3 of Chap.150 and it didn't send notifications out from the bots. I went ahead and reuploaded the chap so hopefully, you got it then.If not here and you missed it, here is part 3 of chapter 150.
One, thanks to all of you who have filled out the survey. And to those of you who haven't and still want to, make sure you do so because I will cut the survey off on the 19th.
Link=https://forms.gle/bpqSdg2aEHBGnLKY7
Two, as I mentioned at the end of the last chap, I am taking a small break to recoup and get everything fixed up for the recap of Vol.6. I shall see you again on Thursday the 23rd for the Side Stories and for the final week of double posting.
I think the Side Stories are pretty fun this time, as we get some action, adventure, and behind-the-scenes events. As well as checking in on some others :D
Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this epilogue as we are going to get some action with our old friends in Hades Squad.
---
Year 2517, floating somewhere in Federation deep space.
“Heimdall, I don’t mean to question orders, but is something like this actually possible?” Apollo asked as he settled into his harness.
“Yeah, they are keeping us in the dark about this new tech. I don’t really like that,” Hephaestus added.
“And it almost killed you! What the hell is that, huh? They just expect us to—”
“Relax, Artemis, everyone. It’s as they say. I had the same concerns, but Suárez cured all my worries. I saw it with my own eyes. And the tech is being kept on the down-low for reasons just like this. Besides, we might all be freedom fighters and allies in this war, but we are still just soldiers,” I told them, wagging a finger at them.
“So it’s possible to rip a ship out of warp?” Apollo asked, his blue eyes piercing into me.
I nudged Va'cot. “Well, you tell them, won’t you?”
Va'cot nodded slightly. “The Council was working on anti-warp technology for many years, but as far as I’m aware, it never left the initial stages. They lacked any reliable power source to affect ships,” she said in her usual toneless voice.
“But now things are different, huh?” Artemis mused.
She’s right. Things are different now, and we experienced that firsthand.
The anti-warp tech was the real deal, and it nearly took my life. We got our first taste of it on the raid on that space station. I got hit by multiple bullets, and they all left nasty wounds that took an extended amount of time to heal. It was like they left a lingering curse on me or something like that.
It turned out it had to do with these new crystals the Federation found, and we managed to capture one on that very station. That’s why they were so hellbent on blowing it to kingdom come. They resembled the crystals everyone used for warp travel, but these new crystals were… different.
The crystals used in warp drives came in a myriad of bright colors and sizes. Some were as large as a man, and others could even get as big as a bear. It just depended, and as far as we could tell, the color never mattered, and the size just indicated how big of a ship it could move. Those were the only fundamental differences.
But these new crystals were pitch black and smaller, no longer than a finger. But they exuded some kind of sickening aura. The second they busted it out of its containment, I wanted to vomit, which was a new experience for me. The thing felt perverse and wholly wrong, like an evil artifact of some type.
But I’ll be damned, evil, god-given, whatever its power was, the thing was powerful. Two finger-sized crystals were enough to rip a ship out of warp, something that I wasn’t able to believe ‘till I saw it with my own eyes.
When I sat on the bridge of the Stormpike and watched a frigate get pulled out from warp, suddenly, I felt as if I had witnessed a significant change in the way of the galaxy, and I was glad the Council never got their hands on the technology. While in the warp, it was thought that a ship was untouchable until it came out from its warp point.
And it’s not like warping around was omnipotent. It had its limits, and everything had a cost. But regardless…
It’s a shame we only have ten crystals in total. We have no idea where the Federation got them or how many they have in stock, but we think it’s only a few, and they don’t seem to know about pulling ships out of warp yet. And we are sadly already down six. And two of them are about to be used to pull this mission off.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter if we know how it works,” Artemis said, shrugging her shoulders. “If it gets me face to face with that old hag so I can rip her arm off and beat her to death, then that’s all that matters.”
There was a moment when none of us said anything. Typically it would be best to…steer away from that kind of talk before a life-or-death capture mission, but I felt that everyone was of the same mind. I think, given a chance, everyone would do what Artemis was thinking.
Well, maybe not Va’cot. She’s a good girl when she isn’t trying to slice someone’s throat.
“Now, now. You know we can’t do that,” I chastised half-heartedly. “If you killed her then everything would be for naught, Artemis.”
Artemis clicked her tongue. “Fine, one swift kick to the ribs oughta do it. I promise I won’t break her in half.”
I just chucked wryly. “What you don’t know is that we already lost life to get this information. I’m sure that person is rolling in their grave right after hearing you.”
Artemis begrudgingly nodded in agreement. “But is all of this information accurate? It’s so little, and we were not able to confirm it. Right, Heimdall?” Apollo argued.
I sighed internally but also couldn’t help but remark on just how much everyone had changed. Once upon a time, it was unthinkable for any of these people to question the validity of a mission. Sure, some gripes or questions needed to be answered for clarity, but outright skepticism?
Twenty years ago, that was unthinkable. Guess it all changed because of him, huh?
“Our ever lovely Suárez personally guaranteed that the mole was a trustworthy source. It’s taken us all this time just to find a single trace of her after the war, so this is all we’ve got. It’s now or never,” I explained.
Everyone nodded to themselves and relaxed a bit. It’s not like it would have changed anything, whether the mole was suspicious or not. We’d been waiting for an opportunity like this for over a decade by that point.
”Besides, I’m running out of time,” I muttered quietly to myself as I closed my cybernetic hands.
I had lost the use of both my arms the previous year. Every part of my body ached, and getting up in the morning was becoming more of a challenge with every sleepless night I went through. That was another thing: sleep.
I didn’t have to sleep all that much compared to a normal Human. Back in the day, I could go weeks without even a wink of sleep and still be right in the ol’ mind. But as the sand of my youth trickled down the hourglass, I’d wanted to sleep more than ever.
Getting old sucks. Suárez told me that I only had a few more years, even if I stopped what I was doing and retired for good. Not that I have any plans of doing so. I’m in too deep to go back to AJS and plant flowers with the kids again…
Well, it is what it is—just another mission.
I stood up from my seat and looked out at the four people in my squad. “As all of you already know, this mission is both critical and dangerous. We have forty minutes to succeed, thirty minutes for the warp drive to warm up after taking the ship out, and ten to extract. That also includes the time it takes for their comms to come back on and send a signal.”
I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck. “I don’t need to remind you that we are far from any kind of backup. If we miss that forty-minute deadline, the two cruisers are to leave without us, and we are to sabotage the enemy vessel and go down with it”
Everyone nodded a single time. “Our primary goal is to secure the doctor alive by any means necessary. If things turn for the worse, we are to eliminate her along with the ship. The mole couldn’t give us concrete details on her security, but it shouldn’t be a surprise. We are expecting at least two squads of Gen 3s on a frigate, along with marines. The old doctor moves fast and light these days, which is good for us.”
“This isn’t going to be a walk in the park. We may have the element of surprise, but that will only last so long. In order to save time, we are aiming for the center of the ship while another squad will hit the lower decks. We split up and cover as much ground as we can on the upper floors and take the escape pods so we can get scooped up by our friendlies…” I trailed off.
Everyone just watched me in silence, so I just sighed and sat down. “What’s the point? Everyone already knows what to do,” I groaned.
I felt Va’cot’s pink eyes staring at me, so I turned to look at her. She nodded quickly and gave me a thumbs-up. I chuckled to myself and gave her one back.
At least somebody appreciated my recap.
Just then, the hue of the hull changed into a soft yellow. That meant it was time to get ready. Like the well-oiled machines we all were, we donned our helmets, grabbed our weapons of choice, and locked ourselves into our harnesses. The time for conversation was over, and it was now time for action.
In just a scant five minutes, the area was bathed in an ominous red light. “Readings indicate an inbound warp jump. Warp point being formed,” the ships onboard AI mono voice echoed.
It could have been a minute or an eternity before the cold metallic voice rang out once more. “Target acquired. Launching in three…two…one.”
The engines roared to life as I was thrown into the back of my seat. Even with my harness, I shook like a madman as the ship rocketed off toward its target. It was always a weird thing, being in a metal coffin about to smack into another metal coffin in the middle of empty space.
The only bright side was that it took the enemy's ship a few moments to fire at us. Thankfully it was standard procedure to power down weapons in warp jump as there was no need to waste power, and it took some time for even small-caliber point-defense systems to come online. And all we needed was those few moments.
Boom.
Crash.
Everyone rocked in their seats as the Tiger rammed into the enemy ship and burrowed its way through the hull using its plasma shield as a ram. Eventually, everything stopped, and the harnesses were quickly released. We stacked up at the front, and the room was bathed in bright green light as the gangplank smashed down.
We were in a long hallway, and my eyes immediately locked on a figure. He had just missed being crushed by the gangplank and looked up at me with teary eyes. I never heard what he tried to say as I crushed his skull under my weight.
Bolter fire thundered off as we mowed down hordes of people frantically leaving their rooms. We had landed in a barracks, and nearly all the hostiles were unarmed besides a handful with pistols. I watched a round ricochet off Hephaestus’s helmet, only for him to turn slightly and reduce the offender’s head into a pink mist.
We made short work of anyone who was still left breathing, and our squad split. I took Va’cot and headed toward the bridge while the others moved on to the ship’s armory and ammo storage. There was no conversation between us, we knew what needed to be done, and we all went about our tasks diligently.
Va’cot and I cleared room after room, hoping to score a lucky break, but all we ended up finding were those attempting to arm themselves or those hiding in their bunks. We didn’t have time to execute every single sailor, but a quick shredder grenade into each room was enough to paint the walls red.
The sound of heavy boots on the floor echoed in the distance, and I gave Va’cot a signal to cloak herself and hide in the doorway. Two figures, both towering over six feet tall and clad in sleek black armor, raced down the hallway with bolters at the ready.
Unfortunately for one of them, they got too close to Va’cot, and she deftly swung her plasma sword. The air hissed with plasma fire, and she cleanly separated the Death Commando’s head from his shoulders. Unfortunately for us, the second wouldn’t be so easy.
I fired two rounds, hoping to hit center mass and a leg, but the commando was quick on the reaction. He threw his body into a doorway and returned fire. It was only thanks to our new Elunari-equipped plasma shields that those bolter rounds didn’t cave in my chest.
The rounds tried to force their way through the shield, only to detonate harmlessly on the outside. My shield hummed from the strain, and I went into the adjacent room. I flicked my visor’s heat sensor on, a new tool courtesy of the Coalition, and I tried to track the Death Commando, but no dice. His armor was far too well shielded thermally to be seen through a thick metal wall.
But his gun’s barrel wasn’t.
I took aim and shot through the wall, tracing the barely visible smear of red. My shots seemed to be missing until Va’cot tossed a plasma grenade into the door. I watched as the small ball of red fire grew in my vision into a miniature sun until it exploded.
The blast rocked the room and kicked up dust, and I wasted no time in reloading and sending more rounds at the target’s last known position. I ceased my fire, reloaded, and counted to ten, waiting for any heat signatures or noises, but nothing came.
We checked and cleared the room, both enemy combatants were dead, but there was no time for celebration. We immediately went back to our search, and when we stepped into the hallway, a hail storm of gunfire barraged us. Rounds clanked and bounced off our armor harmlessly and the two of us returned fire.
The squad of unfortunate souls was reduced to nothing but their legs as rounds burrowed into their chests and exploded. “Marines and Death Commandos engaged. Two combatants neutralized,” I radioed.
I checked the status of the rest of my squad, and they were all green, as was our friendly squad. There were quick flashes of acknowledgements, and Apollo’s voice filled one of my ears. “Marines have been engaged, no Death Commandos,” he said quickly.
Huh, does that mean she is on the bridge after all? It was considered to be less likely, considering she is a researcher. Well, let’s find out.
Va’cot and I wordlessly continued our slaughter, meeting only the bare resistance of marines and crew members. Eventually, power flicked out on the ship, and the bulkhead doors slammed closed. But we planned for that as well.
We had plenty of pre-made charges to blow all the way to the bridge if need be. I quickly placed the charge and—
Boom.
Huh?
I stared in surprise. The bulkhead door was dented inward, but it still remained standing. Considering that we had the schematics, we knew very well what was needed to blow through these doors. We even added a bit more just in case something like that occurred, but to think they reinforced them that much.
“This means we are in the right place,” Va’cot said through our system firmly as she sliced the near-broken door with her sword.
“That’s one way to look at it,” I responded.
It took a bit longer than we had planned, but we eventually arrived at the door to the bridge. The place was sealed shut, and I had to plant multiple explosives to even dent the thing. It was also a problem that we hadn’t run into anyone since the doors started dropping.
“They are either all in here, or we are going to get ambushed when we—”
My words were cut off as the door opened slightly, and a storm of bolter and rifle fire smashed into us. My shield whined and flickered from the intensity, and we were forced to find cover only for grenades to be tossed at us.
The fragmentation grenades exploded and peppered us with shrapnel but left us mostly unharmed. I ended up taking a piece to the fingers in between my armor plates, but nothing that I couldn’t handle. I looked over at Va’cot, and she had a nice long gash in her visor. One of the pieces must have slipped through her shield and cracked it.
“From the pattern of fire, there is one bolter deep, one on the right and one on the left,” I said.
Va’cot nodded her head. “I will eliminate the one on the right.”
“I’ll aim for the left, and we both get the center,” I said back to her.
Our conversation ended just like that, and I immediately set the charges off on the now-closed bridge door. A powerful shockwave rolled past us, and the lights flickered on and off, and the warship rocked from the force. Va’cot tossed plasma grenades, and I threw in shredder grenades before entering, making short work of the crew and marines.
The flurry of hell we sent in was our cover, and we relied on our shields for any blows. I trusted Va’cot fully, so I didn’t bother checking if she was going to be okay. I swept my side, and it was clear with the bodies of dozens of marines and crew members ripped to the shreds. I found a Death Commando still standing on the left, albeit seriously injured but alive and with a gun raised.
The third generation had the lowest tolerance to Ambrosia of all the generations, but regardless of tolerance, if enough of the stuff was pumped into their veins, they were still dangerous. Despite missing an arm, he wielded his bolter from the hip and fired at me.
The shots impacted my shield, and I sent immediate rounds back to him. And he didn’t have a shield. Most of my shots bounced off his armor or didn’t penetrate deep enough for an injury, but one of them hit him in the neck. He dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes as the round burrowed through him.
They just don’t make them like they used to. The Gen 3s are just so fragile compared to us. Too Human.
Va’cot was in a similar state as she had taken out her target, and a quick scan showed the middle Death Commando had perished before we entered. The room was now quiet, filled only with the groans of dying Humans. We moved quickly.
I turned heat vision on and confirmed five signatures hiding in the panic room. The door was locked up like a vault safe and was well hidden behind a panel. It was meant for situations like this, but it only worked if the boarders didn’t know of its existence.
“Cut it open. We can’t risk explosives now,” I ordered.
Va’cot set to work, and I finished off any survivors before standing guard for her. “Va’cot and I have secured the bridge. One Death Commando squad was eliminated. Doctor Octario has not been found, and we are breaching the panic room.”
“The lower floors are clear, no Death Commandos or targets. Planting charges on warp drive,” an AI voice said through comms.
It must be a species that doesn’t speak English leading the lower floor squad, interesting.
“We are under heavy fire. Resistance is concentrated at the armory. Requesting backup,” Apollo said calmly.
“We’ll be there in a moment,” I told him. “Va’cot, status?”
“Five Humans, three males, and two females. No elderly females in the safe room,” Va’cot radioed.
“Then let’s move to Apollo.”
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
We made sure to raise the bulkhead doors and destroy the systems as well as any communication units before racing through the halls back to our squad. Resistance was minimal, only stragglers who had managed to arm themselves from their deceased comrades. However, the sounds of heavy gunfire could be heard as we approached.
We made it to a hallway that was a literal blinding flash of light. Sadly, scanning for life forms wasn’t possible because of the metal used by the Federation. However, we could see the positions of our squad mates. They were pinned down in adjacent rooms by gunfire.
“They are stalling for time. We have ten minutes, Sir,” Va’cot stated.
Yeah, I know…damn. To think she would be toward the armory. How annoying.
“Squad two, can you place charges on the lower deck at the junction to the armory?” I asked.
“Affirmative. Two minutes for placement,” the synthetic voice said.
“You heard them, return fire and keep them busy,” I said into my helmet.
I received the affirmative, and we continued to trade fire. There was no way for us to press forward safely. Even if we maxed out plasma shields and used external shields, we would succumb to this kind of concentrated fire. They even had a heavy bolter in place, which would make quick work of us if we were to rush forward blindly.
“Hey! What if those explosions kill that hag or blow us the hell up?!” Artemis growled into her helmet as she blew the head off a marine that peaked in too far with her railgun.
“We can’t be passive because we are running out of time. If the explosions kill her and ignite the ammo, so be it. Remember why we are here,” I told her firmly.
Artemis said nothing for a moment before sending a few more shots. “Yeah, I know! I just want my chance!”
“Charges are placed,” the voice called out.
“Do it now.”
Boom.
A quick shock wave rolled past us and rocked the ship, only for a fire wave to snake down the hallway. The gunfire was momentarily halted, only to be replaced by the agonizing screams of dying Humans, which didn’t last long. Instead of waiting for the wave to fizzle out, we all pushed through it with Hephaestus at the front.
The walls were scorched black, and the entire floor had been blown inwards. There were no survivors. We had to skate by on the edges to avoid dropping to the lower floors, and we quickly pushed through the junction. There was only token resistance left until we reached a sturdy vault-like door made of black metal.
Hephaestus peeked through the thick glass and ducked down before a round echoed off the metal. “There are people in there, two Death Commandos and a handful of crew members. And so is she.”
“Target located. She is holed up in the armory,” I radioed in.
“Understood. Warp drive charges are set. We are prepping for extraction and shall take the furthest escape pods from you. There are less than ten minutes remaining, Commander,” the synthetic voice said.
Yeah, I know…damn this is gonna be a pain.
“Well, it looks like the ammo didn’t cook. Sucks for her,” Artemis spat.
“No explosives. We’ll kill her for sure. We have little time. Do we retreat?” I asked them.
Four heads turned to me, and they all looked at each other and then back at me. “I have no plans of going back now,” Apollo said firmly.
“Aye, aye, I’m with him,” Hephaestus agreed as he moved to cover us.
Artemis was already back to cutting a hole in the door. “You already know my answer. This is what I signed up for. Either I’m killing her, or she is coming with us, no in-between.”
I looked at Va’cot, but all I could see was the reflection in her blue visor. “I would like to help everyone,” she said with a nod.
“Well, then it’s settled, I guess. Let’s nab her,” I said with a chuckle and shrug.
“Don’t worry. These bastards are dead. I don’t need explosives to kill them,” Artemis stated with conviction.
“Then we will cover you,” I said as I nodded to Va’cot.
“Hey, big guy! I’m gonna need you to rip this door off in a minute. Can you do it!?” Artemis yelled, purposely letting her voice out through her helmet and into the room.
“Yeah, probably,” Heph said with a shrug.
Artemis never stopped working on the door as she clicked her tongue. “Probably?! What the hell are we feeding you for, huh?! You can’t be that big for nothing!”
We all fired down the hallway as a few stragglers attempted to ambush us. Artemis’s yells must have forced them out of hiding and given them some false hope. Nevertheless, we made short work of them.
“Now then…time to die,” Artemis mumbled to herself as she sat on her butt and forced her railgun into the hole.
Her weapon came to life and crackled with red lightning. The air around her whizzed with power as she fired off two thunderous shots in quick order and pulled the rifle out.
“Both the DCs are dead. Just the grunts left,” Artemis said as she made room for Hephaestus.
The giant of a man dug his hand into the door frame and began to yank. It was impressive, to say the least. Those doors were meant to stop the explosion of ammo being cooked off, yet he was ripping them off the hinges slowly but surely.
“There are five minutes remaining,” Va’cot stated in her toneless voice.
“You’re—not—helping! Va’cot!” Heph said through gritted teeth.
“If I were to stand there, I would only get in the way. You are too big,” she stated.
That was… rhetorical, well, whatever.
Rip.
Hephaestus’s muscles bulged, and the door started to pry open. Once he got enough of a purchase, he forced his entire hand into it and peeled the door back like a can of sardines and tore it straight off the hinges, tossing it down the hall with ease.
“Damn, that hurt,” Hephaestus grumbled as gunfire bounced off his armor.
A few quick shots and the rest of the combatants were eliminated. The only people left were the cowering crew in the corner and a lone elderly woman in a dirty blood-splattered lab coat standing tall before us.
She glared at us with eyes that said she was more annoyed than anything. It was almost like she was a mother that came home only to see something disappointing. It made me want to punch her in the throat.
The first to reach her was Artemis. Her leg moved so swiftly that I nearly missed it, and I didn’t even have a chance to stop her. Doctor Octario rocked to the side like a bow and was launched like an arrow into the wall and was promptly knocked unconscious.
“That was for the Commander,” Artemis said, her voice cold and devoid of even rage.
There is a big difference between thinking and doing things, Artemis! But I have no time to complain!
“Grab her, and let’s move. We are running out of time,” I ordered calmly.
Apollo instantly injected the doctor with a syringe and tossed her over his shoulder before I could even finish the sentence. Time was not on our side, and we ran as fast as our legs could take us to the nearest escape pods.
We ignored the marines attempting to block our way with bolter fire, and we piled into a pod that was not meant for this many people or even people of our sizes. Hephaestus was the last in and the poor guy barely fit, but the second he cleared the door, I smashed the button to launch us.
“Stern side! Launching now!” I barked into the radio.
Our bodies rocked violently as the pod jettisoned into the void of space. I peeked out the front glass and saw multiple warp points forming in the inky blackness. The distress signal was sent. And an entire fleet was descending on us. But a shadow quickly loomed over us, and we were jostled again, caught by our friendly ship.
“We are reeling you in, Hades Squad! Get ready for a warp jump the second you get inside!” the captain yelled at us.
“Wait! We are packed in here like sardines. We are screwed if you jump!” Artemis yelled back.
“Too bad! We are jumping, soldiers! You’ll live!” he yelled back.
Damn, this is not going to be fun. I’m going to need a new spine after this. Well, mission accomplished, I guess.
​

Next

Preface: I consider Chaos Earth Rifts to be survival horror. I like to lead off my horror campaigns with a short introduction to set the mood. Since this campaign was to be a prequal to my previous campaign that most of the players had been in they would be familiar with Jacob's Ranch and the coming of the Rifts. Thus I would be able to use an important NPC from the past to set the stage. (Note: This isn't the exact story as the campaign was 10 years ago and I don't remember what I used, but it should convey the atmosphere I was going for.)
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Grandpa Jacob sets his empty coffee cup down and steps off the porch. His mechanical legs whir softly in the early morning stillness, and his cybernetic eye switches to low light as he leaves the glow of the house. The legs and eye are a gift from Uncle Sam to replace the ones he lost over 50 years ago on a forgotten battlefield at the start of the 21st Century.
Grandpa always starts his morning circuit of the ranch at the barn. The faint scent of hay and machine oil stir up memories of his youth and the time he spent here bucking hay or tinkering on his bike. A quick switch to thermal imaging confirms that no varmints have taken up residency in the darkened interior.
Next are the old stables. It's been 15 years since the last horse was kept here. Now it's a machine shop for the drones that continuously fly the perimeter watching for strays and predators. As he nears the stable his cyber eye switches back to standard imaging as it picks up the light bleeding out from under the door. Inside he can hear two of his grandkids working on one of their cars. Old internal combustion vehicles illegal for road travel but still allowed as collector items.
Turning away he heads for the fence line of the ranch. He could link directly to the 8 drones currently flying overhead or monitor the feed of any of the 70+ cameras but he prefers to walk the ranch himself. It bring him closer to the land and after 40 years of ill-fitting prosthetics it's good to get out and stretch his legs.
Setting off at a comfortable 40 kilometer per hour, Grandpa moves east along the fence. At the 10 kilometer mark he cuts north as the sky begins to lighten. A flicker of movement outside the wire catches his attention.
Auto-zoom, 212 meters, canine biometrics, coyote, legal to dispatch. All of this flashes across Grandpa's internal readout as he unclamps his lever action .30-.30 from his leg. The rifle is a hand me down from his father. The Cyberdyne targeting system on it is new and instantly accepts the feed from his eye. Grandpa takes aim…
The eastern horizon explodes with the intensity of a 1000 suns. A wall of immense energy blasts out in a north south direction as Grandpa's eye shorts out and his legs fail. Crashing to the ground he lays stunned. Time distorts, the coyote runs, silents reigns. Minutes pass. Hours.
Partially blind and dragging his useless metal legs, Grandpa slowly crawls toward home. High above him shadowy figures dance and whisper in the fiery glow of a new dawn.

(This might make you cry cause I dreamt of this one)
Time was altered but yet unchanged as voldemort make each horcrux, unknownly that Death was collecting each of them and replacing them with fakes, and when voldemort strike lilith's with the killing curse.
His soul was forcefully merged back into one only his consciousness wake up, clearer then it ever been in so many years of insanity and unstablness of barely having a soul to a desserted paradise island of magic, his body reversed by to his younger form of a preteen where he once made his first horcrux. There were ancient cities, rituals, spells he ever wanted to learned, but he was not alone..
A little red haired toddler, barely 2 was sleeping in the magical grass, sucking onto her thumb, clinging to a mysterious wand, her body covered in a cloak. A girl he easily recognized as the baby he tried to kill over some silly prophecy his former self fell for, lilith Potter.
Picking up lilith, Tom wandered around the town. There was not a soul in sight, but there was magical creatures, food and herbs there, some common, rare and most he read from legendary and myths that he knew where extinct but here they are.
By the time lilith woke up, Tom had explored not even 1/20 of the island and he was already tired by walking stopping by a nearby cottage that seem to have a crib in one of the room. Tom seem to noticed he has his wand.. and also his ring that doesn't seem to want to come off.
All of this should set off red warning in Tom's mind, but all he felt was peace as if all his troubles went away.
After the years went by, Tom noticed he wasn't growing fast enough up to the point his age stop once he hit 18, as well as lilith was too until she also stopped growing around the age of 18. He had attempt multiple attempts to leave the island with her, only to find another countries of another magical creatures, exotic foods, but no people at all, even the point me spell seem to work. Lilith doesn't seem to mind as her brain was fascinated and easily distracted by the magical creature, colorful plants, spells and the peace.
Neither Tom or lilith will know that Death, Mistress of Magic and Father time together crafted a perfect world just for them, the only candidates to be Master of Death, trapped forever eternity but free in a world build to their very heart and soul's desires thanks to Cupid advice to the Ancient Endless Gods and Goddess.
For Tom, it was to learn all magic, to never be hurt by another human being and to never die, even in his deepest heart desired was to feel love.
For lilith, it was to never be alone, or target by others for what she survived through but deep in her heart in another distance future, it was to love and be loved without being taken advantage of for her fame and fortune.
Back at Earth, a year has passed since the death eaters had lost their mark forever the day The Girl who Vanished on that Halloween night, The Wizard world mourned but worship an thank for the sacrifice of the little girl, but only couple of people grieved, one being her mother whom was Stupefyed by Voldemort whom vowed to Severus that he will not kill her, another being a werewolf and a God father. Dumbledore mysterious died from a heart attack the day after,, his elder wand missing from his person.
Lily was in early stage pregnant when that damned night happened, and was forced to be bedridden with calming draughts for months as she wailed in her heart broken in agony in the grief of her deceased husband and baby girl. Only to kept going for her baby boy whom will only hear the the whispered legends of the sibling he never got to know who saved the Wizard World.
But as time go on, Lily would visited her sister after months later sending her a letter of horrible news, and by pure pity and sympathy, Petunia reply with a metting at their childhood local cafe.
Petunia had her 3 year dudley in his stroller, waiting upon a sister who shewould barely recognize when she came. Her sister came in her red lushy hair look like she havent care for in months, her soft peach like skin paler then a ghost, her bright green eyes turned into a dull shell with dark circles under them, and her belly swell with a baby.
By a second changes of heart began as petunia tried to give a hesitated last second hug to her only sister whom lost everything dear to her through the magic world, silently vowing deep in her heart, that she would not lose her sister this time whom returned once more, hugging her little crying sister harder.

Players last moments of triumph.
With Harold down. Julian down. Thunk is the only one left standing. The remains of the Astropol wither away in shrieks of terror that shake the room around you.
A short moment later. Thunk not even having time to collect or react after the destruction of this dead god. A portal on the far side of the room spins open in a faint blue glow.
A withered skulled face with a body wrapped in purple robes steps forth. Acererak the Eternal has come to end this foolery.
In a flash Accerak is standing 20 feet from the last remaining member of the group. Casting a quick spell Thunk is immediately downed.
Death saves are made. The party lives. Each one hears a faint voice from inside.
Kabuzan- GET UP YOU TIRED SACK WE HAVE KILLING TO DO.
Moa- We need you now more than ever pleeasssseee. You need to wake up.
Shagambi- let us not waste this opportunity, do not rest now.
Regaining consciousness the party awakens to see Acererak's back turned as he exams what's left of his little project.
All three gods let out a cry of power. Strength pours through your veins as the Trickster gods imbue even more gifts upon you.
Acererak focused on the fall of his project. The Astropol withered away and the Soulmonger horribly cracked hissing out a light blue vapor.
Turning his head back to see the mistake he has just made underestimating these mortals and the powers they've gained.
Before he has the chance to teleport away the party is on top of the lich. He will not get away for the things he's done. With 2 rounds of combat the party takes the Lich down to his last breathe.
Thunk with his flame tongue sword ablaze slashes in for the final blow splitting the liches skull in half. As his remains turn to sand.
The creator of this dungeon dies in front of you. He is defeated but he is eternal.
Nearby in the middle of the room inside the Soulmonger you can get glimpses of familiar faces. DragonBait floats inside the Soulmonger slamming their incorporeal bodies against the cracking glass. After several hits another ghostly figure appears.
Slithering his serpent like body towards the glass to aid. A Prowling tabaxi hunter. Followed by a gallery of familiar faces. Ras Nas, Bagofnails, Broomhilda, Tinkerbro, Ivon, Andre, Geoff, Gurk, Arroven, Guromok, and every other fallen adventure along your way are on the inside of the Artifact known as the Soulmonger.
Rallied, they are trying to break free of the endless darkness that awaits them.
Mustering up the strength the party has left. Combined with the forces of your ghostly allies and foe. The glass smashed in pieces so small they floated off in a sparkling shimmer falling into the lava below.
All the remaining intact souls come flying in every direction disappearing as quickly as you can lay eyes on them. The tortured screams in the background stop. Revealing laughter and delight among the departing souls.

I am The Bard, who must admit some certain fondness for some of my subjects over others. Any historian naturally becomes attached to some characters, and obtains a bias towards them. I am no different in this regard.
It hung like the bones of an ancient lizard king, awesome even in its deiscation. Highest of the high places, casting forth the dying light of the age, and covering the cosmos in an intense metaphysical shadow. None were beyond its antumbra, and heaven and hell alike were bound within its deepest umbra. The weight of history pressing down on reality was bound up here. Here, amidst the ruins of what had once been the seat of the first and greatest king of the age, where dragons first caught fire in their breaths, where they sang and the world was changed. Here, in ruined majesty, lay the breathless word of awe and mournful nostalgia. A kingdom who’s shadow was graven onto the name of the world itself.
Akar. The first and true Akar. The plane of Io. The birthplace of Bahamut and Tiamat, and where the king of heaven died, and the end of the age began.
Many were the treasure seekers, pilgrims, historians, and other sundry who wandered those halls. Many more were the defenders. The servants of Bahamut and Tiamat alike, agreeing only in this, that the ancient palace, their once true and perfect home, should not be defiled by pillagers and scoundrels. So, suffice it to say the presence of the Black Hound Scoundrels was not welcomed.
Raymond’s sword was broken, again. He’d liked that one too, an ancient ilithid weapon, projecting a blade of light though a psionic focusing crystal. It had served him well, right up until the point where the blue dragon’s lightning bolt had overloaded the arcane technology and blown it up in his hand. He was also missing a limb again, but this was less troublesome than when he was alive.
He hit the ground hard as he fell back, rolling over and over on the black marble floor. Several things were definitely broken. They had found themselves near to their goal, in what had likely been a planetarium of sorts before the fall of Io. The room was filled with great orbs, each one depicting in full a different plane of existence, and how they moved and danced around one another in the great cosmic game. Each globe was about three times the size of a man in radius, and formed of material from the plane it depicted. The floor was graven of marble quarried from the negative energy plane itself, malefic energies safely disapated, and opposite it, a ceiling of glowing hypermatter from the positive energy plane supplemented the light of what appeared to be a miniature star in the center of the room.
That light was quickly obscured as the earth shook from the impact of an ancient blue dragoness landing in front of it. One of Tiamat’s consorts, fair and terrible as the sea and stars. The room crackled with static electricity, a storm system building within the confined space from the raw elemental power of the ancient dragon. She stalked forwards, reading another blast fit to reduce Raymond to ashes. As she opened her mouth, something hit her in the chin. The lightning backfired, and blew dragoness and defender alike back.
Pure angel-white armored boots tore up the surface next to Raymond as Elsior ground to a halt. Her wings flared, tensing for another burst of motion. Aegis snapped to the side in a ready position as the white lion guarded her friend. “Ray, you doing okay?”
”Fine. Just give me a moment.” Raymond replied. He focused, charging the depleted stone around him with his power, awakening a fragment of its prior energies. Once charged, he drew it up around himself, reforming his lost limb from the planar material. “Right. Good to go.”
”We cannot afford to be delayed by this guardian overlong.” Aegis warned through their shared mental link. “It must be removed rapidly.”
”Cualli can’t hold her. That’s how the last one broke.” Lamora warned. The changeling flashed into being, emerging from the form of a microscopic bacterium, only to deliver a devastating slash across the dragoness’s face. Her silver blade slashed horn and eye alike, sending the dragoness reeling with an eye cut out and a horn crashing to the floor. The shapeshifter goddess caught the blood from the wound in her palm, then in a crash of thunder, there were two dragonesses in the room, grappling with one another with fang and claw, tearing up the room in their struggle.
”Well best figure something out soon, we’re running out of zombies.” Keelah replied. The kobold, well, not exactly a kobold any longer, reported from the entrance to the room. Beyond it, the corridor was filled with the sound of clashing blades. She snapped around the corner, twin crossbows raised. Demonic energies began to charge from her weapons, then snapped out in a howling chorus as a rain of hellfire burst from the twin weapons. Tiamat’s lesser forces felt the sting of Avarice and Arrogance, as they rained amidst their ranks. She heard the chant of an Abashai sorcerer, and focused. The chanting devil had their spell cut off midway as Keelah fired a focused blast that punched through the sorcerer’s bodyguards and into his skull. The demonic energy exploded, rending the sorcerer to pieces and covering the nearby minions with gore. She fired another shot, this one a scything wave, and bisected a trio of white abashai that had managed to break through Raymond’s wall of zombies.
Despite her efforts, the undead were flanked, and annihilated. “Correction.” She updated. “We are out of zombies.”
”This necessitates a mightier minion.” Raymond remarked. “Cover me!” He pressed his hand to the black surface of the floor, and began to channel. At the same time, Lamora lost her grapple with the blue dragon, who threw her down with her teeth upon her throat. Unfortunately for the dragoness, biting a changeling is somewhat less than effective, as Lamora flowed like mercury away from the bite, taking on her true form and landing a devastating counter-slash along the dragonness’s wing. It turned towards her, roaring in anger, only to be checked and knocked back by a brilliant white flash.
As several of the dragoness’s teeth fell to the ground, Elsior landed, blade directed at the dragoness. “I’ve never fought a dragon before. Have to say, you’re disappointing.” This enraged the dragoness, who focused her fury upon the white lion, and the chamber shook with their battle.
As Raymond focused, the ground began to raise up into an arch. The sorcerer remained focused utterly on his work, defenseless as he chanted a ritual of awakening and binding. The minions of Tiamat surged forwards towards him, but then there came the sound of the unbreakable breaking. With a chime of shattering time, Keelah re-entered the fray. The fourth dimension cracked about her, as the demoness of time channeled the power of the abyss into the gears of the cosmos themselves.
She was about them and untouchable, fragmented across a dozen parallel worldlines, each one tangled in a gordian knot as reality bent at her whim. Her enemies were slowed, moving in molasses as no speed could avail them, and she likewise was a blur, her newfound abyssal power amplifying her speed, and time accelerating around her to push demonic enhancements even further. She was a one-woman platoon, single-handedly trapping the forces of Tiamat with enfilade fire, sniping their commanders into paste, blasting, ripping, and tearing the horde with a storm of abyssal energy.
Then, it was done. Raymond’s ritual completed as the gate stood ready. With a shout of warning, he activated it. The weak died instantly, reduced to their fundamental elements as the power of the negative energy plane ripped into the planetarium. A singularly unfortunate dragonborn was too near to the gate when it activated, and was pulled through, his body stretching out weirdly as the dimensional distortion inflicted a status scientifically know as “spaghettification” upon him.
Then from the gate came winged death, or perhaps death in the shape of wings. It came with an unsound, an unshriek, and an unboom. Its form perhaps suggested a vulture, or some other kind of carrion bird. But it was an impression, an image in the mind which tried to attach something known to the unknown thing. It was a storm of many black wings, and many eyes. About it was an unflame, an echo of the silence before the first words were spoken. The men of Akar called these creatures Nightstalkers, for they were the hunters and the dragons of the deathly plane. The shape of death, with it antithetical resonance, fell upon the brightest source of life, the blue dragoness. The two forces ripped against one another, lightning flashing desperately as silence smothered the thunder.
The scoundrels ran. “Minion.” Keelah grumbled as time wearily mended itself around her. “Minon. Minion implies you can control that thing!” She growled.
”Theoretically, I can.” Raymond replied. “Though I’d rather not try to put theory into practice right now.”
”So, in other words, you aren’t controlling it.” Keelah said.
”Why do you think I’m running too?” Raymond replied, and Keelah started running faster.
Then, they were there. They knew it at once, the presence of the place was palpable. A wrongness, a sorrow, a stain and scar upon the fabric of the world, invisible but impossible to miss or ignore. Raymond and Lamora felt their stomachs churn, their hair stand on end. Their senses screamed at them that this was a place nobody should be in, a place that should not exist. An absolute defilement hung upon the area, an abomination of desecration so severe that the world screamed around then.
Elsior fell to a knee, struggling to breathe from the overwhelming pressure of the area. Even empowered by Aegis, the dragonborn felt it more strongly than any of them, a death so profound its mere memory was enough to cause her heart to briefly stop, fitfully start, and then stop again. If she remained overlong, it would kill her. The effect upon Keelah was less severe, but without an artifact to protect her, she suffered terribly. The kobold was not a kobold any longer, her shape was formed from the material of the abyss, held together by her sheer ego more so than by any natural law. In this place, her scales screamed, writhed, and began to rip off her body into a twisting coil around her. Her skin boiled under it, her crossbows reknit themselves into her flesh. She retained her shape, her size, but more and more she leaned further away from the draconic heritage and into her new demonic nature to desperately avoid the ancestral agony gathered in this place.
It was odd, one of the simpler rooms in the great planetary palace. A dining room, with three chairs suited for draconic beings. It hadn’t been touched in centuries, nothing had even been here to shed the dead skin cells that would produce dust. Whatever meal they had been eating was long since rotted away, but the table was still half-set, broken plates and cookware scattered. It was as though it might have been left only a few minutes ago. If not for the blood, so much blood. It painted the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the furnitutre. Dried and set like stone into the fabric of the world, the blood of Bahamut, of Tiamat, and of their father.
This was where Io had died. This was where Bahamut and Tiamat’s war began, where they ripped their father’s heart from his chest and tore it in twain, split between them. It still carried the echo of Io’s dying scream, a memory potent enough to bring those with draconic blood to their knees. A memory potent enough to help fuel the birth of a new god of the dead.
”Ray. Grab it. Quickly.” Elsior ordered. “We aren’t meant to be here. Nobody is meant to be here.”
”On it.” Raymond replied, setting down his staff. It began to flicker, grey light sweeping out from it and scanning over the room again and again and again. Ghostly images began to form, memories of the room, playing back in reverse across the centuries. It had been so long that the process would take some time. “It’s set.” Raymond said, and placed a charm on the staff to return to him when it had captured the memory sufficiently. “Let’s get out of here.” He said, moving quickly back towards the planetarium. Everyone knew what waited for them there, it was better than this place.
”I just hope that your staff can get you the memory fast enough.” Keelah grumbled, piecing herself back into her false form. “There’s been trouble enough with-“
”Keelah, if you jinx us I’m going to kick you halfway back to the abyss.” Elsior cut her off.
Lamora stiffened. “Too late. She’s coming. Ray, timeline on that memory?”
”No idea.” Raymond replied. “At its current rate, maybe five minutes.” He started to sprint, and the others continued, Elsior picking up Keelah to bear her along more swiftly. “Maybe the nightstalker can slow-“
He went silent as they emerged back into the planetarium, and the world rent. An overwhelming dominance threatened to stop the hearts of everyone. The nightstalker turned its many-eyed gaze towards the rift and what came through. Drawn like a moth to a flame, it turned its gaze from the desiccated remains of the ancient blue dragoness and hurled itself towards the coming prismatic light. There was a sound like an earthquake, like a hurricane, and like a meteorite impacting as pure chaotic energy ripped it apart, blasting the apex predator of the Negative Energy Plane to dust in an instant.
The ground shook, as a thing unmatched in beauty and in horror stepped through. Five heads snaked on five necks, built upon a powerful body. The very magic of the room trembled as an impossibly powerful aura made the strands of the universe quiver. Five voices spoke in one, in absolute rage and fury, as Tiamat, queen of dragons, made her presence and displeasure known. “YOU DARE. YOU DARE, TRESPASS UPON MY HOME, IN THE PRESENCE OF MY PAIN? YOU COME, CRAWLING AMIDST THE TOMB OF GODS, AND THINK TO ROB IT, TO DARE TO STEAL FROM THE QUEEN OF DRAGONS?”
Lamora covered the scoundrels in a spell of invisibility, but Tiamat turned her gazes upon it and stripped the spell away with all the ease of a mother throwing away a sheet a troublesome child was trying to hide under. “I SEE YOU THERE, LAMORA, FALSE GODLING, PATHETIC LITTLE EXCUSE FOR A DEITY. EVEN IN YOUR MIGHTIEST FORM YOU WERE NO MATCH FOR ME. DO YOU THINK THIS LATEST MORTAL YOU USURPED WILL AVAIL YOU?”
Another head turned towards Elsior, towards Aegis. “I SEE YOU ALSO, DEVIANT, REMNANT AND REGRET. HOW MUCH THE TRUE YOU FEARS YOU, HOW ALIKE YOU ARE IN YOUR COWARDICE AND WEAKNESS. DAUGHTER, TRAITOR, CHILD OF THE USURPER. THAT TRINKET WILL NOT AVAIL YOU. BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP ME, AND I MAY SHOW YOU MERCY.”
Still another, full of wrath, gazed upon Raymond and he quietly thanked Adonai he no longer had a digestive system. “THE SAME WILL NOT BE SAID OF YOU, SORCERER, PARASITE, THIEF. HOW MUCH I REMEMBER YOU, BROKEN AND IN AGONY BY A MERE FAMILIAR, A CONCUBINE, AND NOW YOU THINK TO AVENGE YOURSELF UPON ITS MASTER BY OBTAINING GODHOOD? BY STEALING AWAY THE MEMORY OF MY GREATEST AGONIES TO EMPOWER YOURSELF? HAH. YOU, A FAILURE MORE TIMES THAN EVEN MY TREASURES CAN COUNT. FAILURE AS A FATHER, AS A LEADER, AND NOW YOU THINK TO BE A GOD? THE PUNISHMENT FOR YOUR ARROGANCE WILL BE LEGENDARY. YOUR SCREAMS WILL ECHO THROUGH THE MILLENIA, AND YOUR PAIN WILL BE ETCHED UPON THE STARS, SO THAT EVEN HELL SHALL GAZE UP AND SHUDDER. THEN ALL SHALL KNOW THAT I AM TIAMAT, HIGH GODDESS OF THE HIGH GODS, MY WRATH IS MIGHTY, MY VENGANCE SURE.”
”AND AS FOR YOU.” She finished, snarling at Keelah. “Who’s familiar are you again?”
Keelah grinned. "I am the goddamn eggshell caught in the universe's gears, holding it back from sheer spite even when I should be broken. I am the demoness of time, the greatest thief in the cosmos, the abyss couldn't hold me, and heaven can't keep me out. I am Ordani, a godslayer, and a true daughter of Io. In other words bitch, I'm your worst nightmare!"
There was a moment of stunned silence as Tiamat processed that she’d just been defied in the midst of her holy fury. Furthermore, that she’d been defied by a kobold of all things. A slave race dared to defy the queen of the universe? She was simply stunned by the audacity. Then, she ceased to be stunned, and became enraged. All five heads focused on the kobold, opened their mouths, and the battle was on.
A wave of annihilating prismatic energy roared towards Keelah, only to be intercepted by Lamora. As perhaps one of the most powerful attacks in the cosmos bore down on her, Lamora simply raised up her blade, and cut. The wave of destruction parted like the red sea, as Lamora stood, framed by the light of her blade and the apocalypse crashing past her and her party. She may have been the weakest among the gods, but to underestimate the heroine with a thousand faces was the utmost folly!
Elsior roared a battle cry and rocketed forwards, blade set to pierce the dragon queen’s adamantine hide. Only for her to miss, entirely. She paused, confused for a moment as Tiamat seemed to utterly vanish. However, as she looked down, and beheld a prismatic dragonborn, it was clear she had only changed her shape. A blast of supercooled acid hit the white lion, beginning to melt through her armor as it froze her solid to the ceiling.
Time shattered around Keelah as she took cover behind the planets, opening fire with a dozen piercing shots. They shattered in the air a meter from Tiamat’s form, and she calmly waved a hand. One of the planets Keelah was cowering behind exploded into corrosive gasses, instantly melting two timelines to goo. The gas rapidly spread, forcing Keelah to cover her mouths and hold fire, lest she risk igniting the gas.
Tiamat raised her hand, and fired a blast of fire. It was no stream as with a normal breath weapon, but a concentrated ball of heat and death, more akin to a fireball than a normal breath weapon. Raymond hurled a singularity at a nearby planet, dragging it off course and into the path of the fireball. The fireball hit it, and ripped the planet apart, sending magma spraying throughout the room. Irritated, Tiamat glared towards Raymond. A moment later, a bolt of lightning ripped out of nowhere and slammed into the mage. He went sprawling, body ablaze. As he rolled, he lifted his hand, and redicrected the energy. The power was still enough to blast his directing arm to ashes, but he managed to send the majority of the attack back at Tiamat.
The queen of dragons didn’t even deign to block the attack, letting the bolt of lightning pass harmlessly over her. She was the daughter of chaos itself, and no elemental magic could harm her, not even her own. The blade of Lamora on the other hand, could. As Tiamat was blinded from being inside a lightning bolt, Lamora struck, landing a glancing blow on the dragon queen’s arm. The hero’s blade slashed open the virtually indestructible scales, drawing a goddess’s blood. The dragon queen’s eyebrows suddenly raised, and she retreated away from Lamora, teleporting to the other side of the room and firing off another blast in her direction.
Keelah moved clear of the gas, and began hammering Tiamat’s position with fire. Tiamat once again blocked it, only for one of the bolts to vanish, replaced with a now one-armed mage. Raymond held a spike of pure negative energy in his remaining hand like a spear, and drove it into the wound Lamora had opened. The spear drove in, and wrapped itself around the dragon queen’s arm like a shackle. Tiamat’s eyes went wide, and she smiled briefly before moving in to rip Raymond’s head off. He shouted an alert. “Her magic’s sealed! Now!”
Tiamat’s foot swung with enough force to reduce the mage’s torso to paste, but it didn’t connect with him. Raymond vanished, and the dragon queen’s heel instead connected with the brilliant white armor of the White Lion. Elsior grunted, but she had traded blows with Ascalon, Tiamat was still murderously strong, but she wasn’t a fighter. “My turn.” She replied, stepping in and answering with an attack that hurled Tiamat across the room.
Tiamat landed on her feet, scales smoking but unbroken. Even a full-powered attack from Aegis could only bruise her scales, not break them. The power of a trueborn goddess was not something any mortal weapon, even an artifact, could overcome with simple brute force. That didn’t seem to stop the scoundrels though, as Elsior charged, Keelah opened fire, and Raymond hurled another singularity, this one aimed directly for Tiamat’s throat.
Tiamat smirked, and reality bent. Elsior found herself suspended in the air, dangling from invisible threads. A wall of crystal interposed itself between Keelah’s bolts and their target, and Tiamat conjured a staff of similar crystal, using it to focus a blast at Raymond’s singularity. The miniature black hole froze solid, fell to the floor, and shattered.
”Magic sealed my as-gh!” Elsior swore, as Tiamat crossed the distance and struck her. Her armor unraveled, and the dragonborn lost her grip on Aegis. She hit the ground sprawling, chest caved in and body starting to tear itself apart. It was like she was coming apart at the seams, body fraying like a damaged tapestry.
”It is sealed, this is something else entirely!” Aegis shouted, blade struggling in the threads before Tiamat casually picked the greatsword up in one hand to examine it like a child studying a new toy.
”Indeed, oh treasure mine.” Tiamat mused. “I am Tiamat, axiomatic to dragons. Where they are, I am also. All dragons, and all things that are called dragons. Do you understand? Besides, I could hardly call myself the greatest sorceress in the cosmos if I limited my self to only a single continuity’s power.”
Aegis tried to fight back, forming armor to restrict the dragon queen’s movements, but he could find no purchase. Every time he tried to manifest the restricting plates, he found his progress blocked by strange structures, as though the underlying threads of reality had been woven into armor for the dragon queen.
Lamora struck, and was deftly parried by Aegis. The two goddesses clashed for a few seconds. Lamora was far more skilled, but the gap in raw power was too much. Tiamat was toying with her. Keelah circumvented the wall of crystal and prepared to fire, but the wall collapsed into eyes, which intercepted her bolts with freezing rays of their own, before turning towards her. Raymond reformed his arm, and shaped a singularity into a staff. He swapped with Lamora, giving to buy the cleric time to heal Elsior.
With a two handed blow, Tiamat shattered Raymond’s staff, staggering the mage. Then, she drove the blade into his stomach, and twisted. Raymond was a spirit, not a man, but this was still a ruinous blow, and he fell forwards onto the blade. Still, he grit his teeth, and vanished, taking the blade with him. Lamora reappeared in his stead, and in a single motion, slashed open Tiamat’s throat. The dragon queen staggered back, before her blood flash froze, keeping her avatar in the fight. Lamora lunged to finish her, but invisible threads caught her blade and redirected it. With a thunderclap, her blade severed the shackle sealing Tiamat’s magic.
In a surge of power, Tiamat resumed her true form and hurled Lamora back. Her power was simply too great for the scoundrels to face even this aspect. Keelah opened fire, piercing the dragon queen’s hide with many bolts, and then ran for cover as Tiamat swept her tail out and threw half the room at the kobold in return.
Raymond leaned on Aegis like a cane, holding his essence in with one hand. He focused, mending himself to the point where he wasn’t about to disapate, but the effort left him weakened. He was practically out, and nothing was even slowing Tiamat down. He looked about, and gaze focused on the sun in the center of the room. He had one more gambit.
”I have an idea. Give me a moment, and time moving as fast as possible on that star.” He requested.
”I hope this one works Ray.” Keelah warned, and then fired a bolt. The sun began to spin faster. Elsior took back her blade, and with a roar of challenge, once more faced down the queen of dragons. Her brilliant blade met the fang, claw, and crushing tail of the dragon goddess, their blows shaking the ground, before Tiamat focused another prismatic blast and hurled her back. She advanced, as ruin came to the planetarium around her. The orbs were desiccating, falling back to their component elements and being drawn irrevocably to the star in its center, which began to swell and turn a sickly red.
Tiamat advanced on Raymond as he chanted, focus entirely on his spell. Keelah bombarded her but her attacks were only pinpricks. She prepared a blast to finish the mage, only to be intercepted by Lamora’s fist, and the bellowing roar of a Tarrasque. The sight of that monster drove Tiamat into a berserk frenzy, and she threw herself at Lamora’s mightiest form with an animalistic rage. She bit and tore and rent, tearing massive chunks off of the changeling. Her magic and breath weapons seemed forgotten as she screamed in utter rage and hate for the thing in front of her. All Lamora could do against the onslaught was defend, and not to protect herself truly, but to simply die more slowly.
”There’s not enough mass!” Aegis warned, as the last of the planets were dragged into the swirling maelstrom of the star.
”Then we’ll have to use acceleration as a substitute!” Raymond retorted, and hurled a singularity into the heart of the star. “Elsior! Throw the sun at her!”
Elsior looked at Raymond like he was crazy, and then shrugged. If this didn’t work, they were all dead anyways. She hurled herself into the heart of the star, trusting her armor to protect her from the incredible forces at work. With a cry, she threw the dying sun at the queen of dragons. “ORDER ON ME!”
Raymond threw the last of his power into briefly phasing the scoundrels out of existence, as the star impacted Tiamat and exploded. The queen of dragons was resilient, but even her armor was nothing before the force of a supernova. The planetarium vanished as the power of a collapsing star, even a miniature one, ripped it apart. But as the blinding light faded, Tiamat still stood, smoking and battered, stunned, and breathing heavily, but stood.
But so also did the scoundrels! Emerging back into existence, they attacked with everything they had left. Keelah blinded the dragon queen with an unendring rain of abyssal bolts, giving cover for Lamora to take on her true form and carve a ruinous slash across one of Tiamat’s throats. Elsior took the chance, shedding her armor and moving with enough force to create a sonic boom, she struck the weakened throat with all her might. In a spray of divine blood, the head severed, and with a crash, the red head of Tiamat fell to the ground.
Tiamat’s rage was incalculable. Her wings stirred up a veritable hurricane, throwing the scoundrels off of her as she took flight. The scoundrels looked up, and awe came upon them as the empress of dragons began to cast a spell of incomprehensible power. She wove together ley lines, the very flows of magic through the cosmos, and she wove them into being, not one, but five at once. Then, they began to align, one to each cardinal direction, and one pointed like a targeting beam directly at the scoundrels.
Raymond was unconscious, so Lamora called Cualli to hand and activated it. The scoundrels vanished into the staff, and it vanished into itself seconds before the spell began to activate. A beam of brilliant white light filled the air, and the ley-lines collapsed into themselves, into the directing one, and hurtled downwards. The scoundrels re-appeared on the Astral Hound moments before a spell powerful enough to shatter a planet detonated on the space they had just been standing. Akar’s ancient magics held it together, directing the force outwards. The plane survived, barely, with a seventy-mile wide hole punched through it, straight from one end to the other.
Keelah rushed to the Astral Hound’s helm and swiftly began directing the aethership away from Akar as fast as it could go, supplementing her own power to accelerate it through time and space even faster. They watched with baited breath, as they prayed that Tiamat’s aspect wouldn’t chase them down. Forutnately for them, the damaged avatar was destroyed by its own working. Within Ascalon’s domain, the true dragon queen raged that her prey had escaped her, though privately, she was mildly amused that any mortal had managed to push one of her avatars so far. It was the first time in a very, very long while.
”Did you get it?” Keelah asked as soon as Lamora restored Raymond to consciousness. “Because that was far too close to have been for nothing.”
Raymond focused on the staff, and projected out the memory. “Yeah, and I see why Tiamat didn’t want us to find it.” He replied. The hazy grey memory stood clear, as Io breathed his last, and his daughter wept for what she had done.
”Well that’s a fascinating little parcel of information, beyond simply its use in creating our own deity to counter her.” Aegis remarked. “But perhaps not the most actionable piece we recovered on this expedition. Did any of you notice what wasn’t there?”
”Even as supposedly the good half you’re an insufferable smart-ass you know that?” Keelah replied. “Just fucking tell us.”
”Takes one to know one mini-Mat.” Aegis replied. “There were no forces from Ascalon’s own armies. It was exclusively Tiamat’s.”
”Given her response to us being there, I think she’d have killed him if he tried to add his own.” Elsior replied. “Though, that probably wouldn’t stop him.”
”Exactly.” Aegis replied. “He’d only avoid having his own forces around to monitor the situation, and probably try to kill all of us, if there wasn’t already something else he needed them for. He’s preparing to make his move.”
”Another invasion of Akar?” Raymond guessed. “It’s only been fifty years. He can’t be ready for that so quickly.”
”We don’t take losing well.” Aegis replied.
”Fair enough. Even so, we’re going to need more information, and more firepower.” Raymond considered. “This memory is only a part of what I’ll need, and the energies required will take more than a little while to accumulate.”
”So,” Keelah considered. “What I’m hearing is that we need to break into heaven again.”
”And persuade an archangel to not only avoid killing us, but come with us. Because there’s no way Kazador will come with us without her.” Elsior groaned. “And maybe somehow pick up Matlal on the way, providing he’s not busy on the mortal front.”
”He will be. Can’t keep himself out of trouble that one.” Lamora remarked. “Though as for persuading Senket, I suspect she has words for Ascalon long overdue.”
”No doubt. So, in the interest of not having to ask Kaz to reforge me, please don’t tell her who’s soul is in this sword.” Aegis requested, with not a little fear.

First Previous Next
​
Systems check.
>>Create handshake with Cadoon.

Error. Cadoon not found.

One does not simply lose an entire civilization.
System check.
>>Check status for CD-ROM.

Error. CD-ROM not found.
Suggestion: look up (definition) CD-ROM.

If I could roll my eyes, I would! Fine.
>>Look up (definition): CD-ROM.

32 definitions found:

1. Compact disc read-only memory.
2. Obsolete technology used prior to 987 ME.
3. A CD containing computer data that cannot be altered.
4. A circular disk used usually containing recorded music or computer data.

5….

Stop.
>>Display definition of “CD-ROM” > limit to Cadoon.

Cadoon Reserve Observation Module - military uplink used to transfer large amounts of data across space without the concept of time.

>>Check status for CD-ROM > limit to Cadoon.

Status: Offline

Was that so hard?! Ugh!
>>Reboot signal.

Error. Unable to find signal.

Are you kidding me? Why!?

Error. Second user found.
Error. Unknown username. Check again or try your email address.
Error. The password you entered for the username SQUEE! is incorrect.
Suggestion: Lost your password?

Wait, wait! Stop! What is going on??
Who else is getting in here? There are no other users!

Prompt: create new password.
Error. Password must contain at least 24 characters.
Error. Password must contain at least one number.
Error. Password must contain at least one uppercase character.
Error. Password must contain at least one symbol.
Error. Password cannot include swear words.
Error. Password cannot contain full words in any language.
Error. Password cannot be the same as a password used previously.
…
Login successful.
Welcome user: SQUEE!

>>Access: remote chat.
>>Send to user [SQUEE!]: “What are you doing in here?”

“Hey Tony! Sorry, gonna need your systems for a moment.”<<

>>“Who is this?”

“No time to chat!”>>
“I’ll catch ya later, k?”>>
“K.”>>
“Bye!”>>
Error. Firewalls down.
Error. Virus detected.
Error. Shrimp detected.

>>“STOP! What are you doing?!”

Error. Full system compromised.
Shutting down in 5
4
3

>>Run I-M-DA-b0SS.exe

2
1

>>Run 4Nt0nY5D4rk5t0rM.dmg

…
Error. Unable to shut down.
Error. 134 Systems compromised.

>>R-un cl *4-UUUU—
>>Ru-n cl—
>>Run—
Did you just glitch my systems?!

Warning. Waves detected.
Warning. Impact imminent.
Warning.
Warning.

>>Run SD.exe

Shutting down all non-essentials.
Rebooting.

That little shrimp got me! Didn’t know she was that good.
Okay. Back to work.
Start up baby, come on. Start up.
Start up.

[Welcome to the DARKSTORM interface. Please login.]

>>Username: AnthonySDarkstorm
>>Password: S*ckMiz0r0-graV!ty#jU\k

[Welcome user: T0NY]

First things first.
>>Run IM-a-g#0st.exe target room > Main dock

Error. “Main dock” not found.

Ugh!!! CHARYD!!!!
>>Run IM-a-g#0st.exe target room > Main deck
>>Run I-M-DA-b0SS.exe
>>Boot user: SQUEE!
>>Ban user: SQUEE!
>>Find target (Squilla)
>>Run Spr!nk1ersInR00m-TST.exe if {
Target (Squilla) = InR00m and {
Target (Posey) <> InR00m } elseif {
Run D!sc0Str0keL!ghts.exe if {
Target (Squilla) = InR00m elseif {
Run tr4cker.exe }}}}
>>Loop command: every 25 hours.
You’re trapped in here with me. Now… why is Posey running around?

Audio input received:
Source (Captain Posey): “Tony, I need you to lower the temperature further in here.”<<

>>Send message via IM-a-g#0st.exe: “It will risk freezing the system.”

“Do it.”<<

>>Access CHILL, room: shh!!
>>Decrease temperature.

“Tony, turn the pump back on.”<<

>>Access FLOW, room: shh!!
>>Activate.
>>Full system check.

Running…

Since I have time, I might as well educate the new captain.
>>Send message via [EMD comm] to (Charyd):
“Dock (noun): a place for the loading or unloading of materials”
“Dock (noun): a place in a criminal court where a prisoner stands or sits during trial”
Insert message: “Neither of these define Darkstorm.”
>>Run w0rdp0rn-bomb.exe > “Dock”
“Dock (noun): a platform extending from a shore over water and supported by piles or pillars, used to secure, protect, and provide access to a boat or ship.”
“Dock (verb): to maneuver (a vessel or vehicle) into or next to a dock.”
“Dock (verb): to couple (two or more spacecraft, for example) in space.”
Let’s see you use your communicator now, eh?
>>Run ShoppingList.exe
+ Chocobars
+ Liquid coolant
+ Dictionary
- briefs
You don’t deserve clean underwear, Charyd.
---
The only tool left in Illise’s possession was a clickable pen and no matter how many times she dismantled it, there was no hidden gun, bomb, or tool to help her break out of her room. She shimmed the nib of the pen into a flathead screw, gave it a twist, and it cracked, proving that it was not a screwdriver as the ink percolated out and over her hands. Try to force something that it's not and you would get a failure of execution - the summary of her day since landing on PT-0237. She did not date to step near the white rug by her bed, afraid of staining it blue. Even with a broken pen, she would not admit defeat. “Tony?”
He had been quiet the last few times, which, according to her Universal Standard Time clock, was twenty minutes ago. Her eyes wandered the room for any other tool she could use. Her docupad in the room was locked down, though it offered some old-fashioned card games able to be played. The pirates did not leave her with much to do and were lenient with the no handcuffs situation because of her good behavior to be locked up in her room. They cleaned out most of her desk beside the peeled apple snacks and her personal picture frames.
The pad dinged, displaying a black background and blue text, a single square blinking.
“Shall we play a game? []”
“Tony!” She ran over. “What is going on?”
“You looked like you could use a friend and the rest of the crew is playing games in the mess hall.”
She typed in “Y” for the game and a screen popped up of a pixel version of Tony as he bounced along the horizon. “How is everything for you?” Ilise asked.
“Your nimble fingers saved my tubing and kept everything cool. We’ll need more coolant though. I put it on the list.”
There is a list? She tapped the screen and pixel Tony jumped. It began the horizontal walk through the game, with her jumping over various mounds of cake, coffee mugs, and pirates. “Any clue where they are going?”
“None yet. They are trying to bandage up and lock me up with some sort of firewall so I can’t communicate with the CD-ROM.”
“Did you help Charyd get out?”
“No. He made that disaster on his own. I kicked him out because he was exponentially causing more. He’s a personified version of a virus.”
“That you willingly let in.”
A fishing hook dropped on the pad and grabbed pixel Tony by the pants and lifted him up, kicking. “I was phished and let him aboard thinking-”
She sighed. “We still have one trick up our sleeve to get out of here. Saar, he is safe in a wall. Send him a message about our situation and let him out when it’s safe.”
The pixel Tony was dropped down and bounced on a trampoline before he continued along, bouncing on its own. Her palm gently caressed the screen, she had almost lost Tony, they had done vigorous training to be on the Darkstorm together, and she would sacrifice it all if it meant keeping Tony’s sharp wit alive and going.
Blue text appeared at the top of the pad, “Message sent to Charyd: Officer Saar is starting to stink and needs food and water every 6 hours to stay alive.”
She tightened her jaw, debating what to say, she wanted to cuss him out for betraying everything they had done. They were supposed to be the best and prove this new technology. That it can work. That it made sense. That it was good. Instead, she smacked the docupad, ran to her pillows, and launched all of them at the pad while screaming. Without Tony, and even Saar, she was on her own waiting to hear what the pirates would do with her. It was amazing they hadn’t already thrown her out of the airlock. Tony was obsessed with the pirates and she did not understand it. Tony should have learned by now anyone would and could pass you off if you did not benefit them.
“Why are you being so unreasonable?” Ilise growled out, hoping both that Tony would hear her and not. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear his reply.
Tony remained silent, but it was like a white noise filled her room instead, making him pointedly quiet.
“Family,” Tony finally answered, what felt like hours later, though, was probably only a few seconds. The answer made no sense.
Ilise scoffed and punched into the soft bedding to expel some of her anger.
“What does that even–no. No. Do you even know what it's like to have a family who expects you to conquer the galaxy?” she asked instead, latching onto that single word as she thought about what her own family would think about her situation. “It’s full of nagging every chance they get. Sure, they praised me when I excelled at the academy- but after that, my career was stagnant until you and I met up.” She tossed the blankets up and she made a cocoon around herself as she walked over to her desk, two picture frames sat there. One picture was of her with her parents, all in military uniforms. While theirs had endless badges from their multiple turns at war, she was a recent cadet, naked of pins. They would be so disappointed in her now. “Either that or they decide that you’re not worth their time.” The other frame was of her with her sister hanging out in the gardens. She should have sent a message to her sister before this whole mess happened, even if it was against security protocols.
“They’re not like that.” Tony’s voice was meek, soft, almost gentle.
“Family isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be,” Ilise finished with a sigh, even as she realized that the smile on her sister’s face in that picture was the exact same as the one from the last time they saw each other.
Tony never replied, the whole ship was oddly quiet without the normal banter. Her body decided that it was enough and fell asleep instantly.
—
Alice was not being gentle at all, as she finished wrapping the medi-tape over Charyd’s wounded leg. In fact, he was pretty sure that she applied a lot more of the antiseptic than needed. When she yanked the binding closed hard enough to shift him in his seat, he was sure about it.
“What’s up with you?” he asked, wary of her being so close to an open wound.
“You’re an idiot, that’s ‘what’s up with me’, you idiot,” she hissed out, refusing to look at his face.
“Hey, it worked,” Charyd said when he realized why she was so angry. He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder but she hit it away in anger. “Alice. We’re good–”
“We are lucky!” she interrupted with a growl and yanked harder on the bindings. They were so tight and secure that Charyd wasn’t sure he could bend his leg at all while it healed.
“We’re all here. We’re mostly unharmed–”
“Mostly?!” she scoffed out another interruption. “Do you even see yourself? I swear, you and that Cadoon captain did more damage to us than the prison did!”
Charyd paled at those words.
Alice immediately regretted them and he felt her feelings wash over him. He accepted her silent apology as she settled in the back of his mind, trying to project calm. It didn’t last for long. That wasn’t who Alice was. She pulled out of his head as soon as he felt the stirrings of her anger.
Charyd tried to head them off with a wide grin and said, “aren’t you happy you’ve got the luckiest guy in the galaxy as your captain?”
Alice mentally stumbled as she left his head, the anger thwarted for a second.
“You have a horseshoe shoved up your ass, don’t you?” she growled out the question.
“Either that or my prayers to Fortuna were answered.”
Alice rolled her eyes.
“We’re good, Alice. We’ll take a few days to heal and regroup, then we can get back out there! Look, we’ve got the Darkstorm back and–”
“And that’s another thing,” Alice talked over him, another interruption as her anger mounted again. “Darkstorm? Why?? This ship is what got us into this mess in the first place!”
“Not really. And we both know it. Black hole, everyone on the ship knows it. And I know it’s much easier to blame the ship, but know this Alice - nobody blames you.”
Her entire face scrunched up as she looked down, her skin a translucent color that looked almost pink in splotches everywhere. Alice was not used to hiding her emotions as they displayed on her body around Charyd. He loved that about her.
“They were from my pod,” Alice grumbled, still not looking up.
“And there is an idiot named Charyd in a prison cell somewhere because he got drunk and he has my name. Doesn’t make it my fault he’s an idiot.”
Alice let out a chuckle. “It actually does. You’re the one who put him there.”
“Semantics. You know what I mean. You had no control over them. Shitty third-cousin-five-times-removed.”
Alice rolled her eyes, but when she stopped, they finally settled on Charyd’s face and she had a small smile on her lips. “You know that’s not how Naureus pods work.”
Charyd shrugged. “Whatever. We’re safe, we’re good, we’re all here. Everybody back home has been worried sick about you all. Which reminds me-” Charyd turned to face the camera in the corner “-set a course for MRKT-0293.”
No response.
Alice rolled her eyes again and said, “Be nice. Tony? Do you mind please setting a course for home?”
No response.
“Maybe he’s still down?” Alice questioned.
It was Charyd’s turn to roll his eyes. Just because the Darkstorm’s AI used a male image in the hologram and everybody had taken to calling it a him. “I’ll go set the course. Make sure the others are okay?”
“Yea. Polo is baking you a new cake.”
“What happened to the original one?” Charyd asked and tested his leg. The medi-tape was keeping it together and numb so he could walk but not morph it yet.
“Posey–which we will talk about–used it to knock out Scooball.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Was it chocolate?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit.”
Alice only nodded in response this time. “Mess hall?”
“As soon as I’m done on the deck.”
Alice raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing. She walked out of the med bay first and Charyd limped a few steps after her, testing his wounded leg before he realized he was good to walk. He made it to the main deck of the Darkstorm and sat in the captain’s chair. It was so comfortable. The hologram screen he pulled up was the same one Alice was using earlier during their unfortunate escape from the planet. He set the coordinates for home, a small market planet in a system quite far away, and turned off the hologram.
The ship shifted minutely through space and then was moving, speed increasing gradually enough that he did not need to remain seated or warn the others. Within minutes, they would be out of the system that housed one of the most horrible prisons in the galaxy.
The AI’s visual didn’t appear anywhere, not even as a tiny sprite to mock him. He was starting to miss Tony’s voice. The thought had him shaking his head, and he got up to get to the mess hall. If a computer program wanted to give him the cold shoulder, that was fine with him.
As soon as he walked in, all thoughts of Tony, Posey, the Darkstorm, and Cadoon were wiped clean.
It was his crew.
Polo was pulling a cake out of the small oven in the corner, his bald head covered in a worn beanie to keep it from reflecting the lights above and blinding everyone. Squilla was attached to the wall near the TV, reaching out with her antennae every now and then to catch the flying popcorn that Alice and the last member of their crew were throwing at the TV. They were watching that epic cooking show, The Intergalactic Cook-Off, where the contestants Eloise and Mikayla faced off in the Mushroom forest to find edible ingredients in a short 40 minutes. Scooball was in the corner, sprawled out under a UV lamp with a bag of iced lemons against his face. Her face, Charyd noted the long earring dangling from one pointed ear.
“Hey, you–”
“That’s not how you fucking make Kemapiawa, it needs a mousse!” Scooball jumped up to yell, pointing a finger at the TV.
“You’re okay,” Charyd answered his own unfinished question and turned to Alice. She smiled at him behind the bowl of popcorn.
“Stop with those!” Polo called from the cooking corner. “Cake just has to cool and we’re gonna eat.”
“Cake! Cake! Cake! Cake!” Squilla started the chant that all of them took up until they all dissolved into laughter.
Charyd fucking loved his crew. Now, it was time to take them back home and make sure their families all knew they were safe.