This post serves as a list for figuring out if your item is cross platform (xplat) tradable or why it may not be even though the series of the item should be.
Cross Platform Items/Series;
Limited Items -- Rocket Pass (see exception below), Twitch Drops
Non Crate Items -- Non Crate Rare, Non Crate Very Rare, Non Crate Import, Non Crate Exotic, Non Crate Black Market
Golden Eggs
Golden Gifts
Golden Pumpkins
Golden Baskets
Golden Lanterns
Golden Moons
Golden Series Items EXCEPT Golden Egg '20 (see exception below)
Blueprints (see exception below)
Platform Locked Items;
Champion 1-4 Series
Player Choice Series
Turbo Series
Nitro Series
Overdrive Series
Accelerator Series
Velocity Series
Victory Series
Triumph Series
Impact Series
Zephyr Series
Elevation Series
Ferocity Series
Vindicator Series
Totally Awesome Series
Haunted Hallows Series
Secret Santa Series
Spring Fever Series
Beach Blast Series
Revival Series
Ignition Series
Momentum Series
Season 1 Series
Season 2 Series
Select Favorite 1 Series
Select Favorite 2 Series
Auriga Series
Dorado Series
Fornax Series
Bonus Gift Series
Exceptions to the above;
Golden Series -- If a tradeup was done using a Golden Egg '20 Series item, that new item will be platform locked regardless of what the trade up series ends up being.
Example: Trading up 1 Golden Egg '20 very rare with 4 Golden Gift '20 very rares. The import item, regardless of if it ends up being Golden Gift '20 Series, will be platform locked. Unfortunately in these scenarios there is no way to preemptively tell if the item is platform locked or not until a person signs in to another of their linked platforms to check.
Seasonal Series Blueprints (Haunted Hallows, Secret Santa. Spring Fever & Beach Blast) -- There was an option to purchase these crates from Psyonix, blueprints that were revealed from purchased crates are platform locked. Even though the blueprint can be platform locked, a locked blueprint can still be crafted on another platform (assuming the person crafting has multiple platforms) which then makes the item locked to whatever platform it was crafted on.
Example: I have a Burnt Sienna Vampire Bats blueprint from Haunted Hallows on PC, i have both my PC & xbox accounts linked to the same epic account so i can sign in on xbox and craft that blueprint which then makes the item platform locked to xbox but tradable to others on xbox.
Rocket Pass 1 Some Rocket Pass 1 unpainted/uncertified limiteds are platform locked. Maverick, Maverick G1, Rhino wheels & Motormouth engine sound are locked.
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If you have any suggestions/clarifications/questions to help make this post better, please send them through modmail

Found a great deal on a 2005 lly duramax. Was wondering what should I expect as I have tons of experience with gas engines I’m practically a mechanic. But none with diesels. What are your guys experiences with them? What are the conning issues and what should I look for when buying? Any input at all is greatly appreciated!

Foxhole submarine concept/rant
So this has been talked about to death already but I still want to talk about it. I’ll be writing down several sub ideas below, please feel free to tell me how they could be improved or how they simply won’t work. I’ll also touch on possible torpedos as well. It should also be said all of these subs go slower when submerged. They are also all more valuable to damage while submerged.
Light torpedos A relatively simple and fast torpedo, forced to be fired at the surface. they have a maximum range of 25 meters before halting. These torpedoes are relatively ineffective against stronger ships. They are also bulky, and hard to transport. That being said they are cheap to produce in large quantities.
Heavy torpedos A difficult to make torpedo with a forced to be fired at the surface. They have maximum range of 35 meters before slowing. These heavy torpedos can’t be transported by pallet and are forced to be moved by small trucks or crate. They have considerable stopping power, being able to stall many ships or at least severely damage them.
Light sub A simple semi slow sub with has a 12.7 machine gun for a deck gun and can hold a very small amount of light torpedos that don’t stack with a limited 25 meter range, forcing the sub to go to the surface and submerge as quickly as possible. it can last 5 minutes below the water before it has to surface for air. It can’t take much damage above water and takes more damage when it’s below. This sub has a maximum crew of three. 1 drivecommander, 1 engineer, and 1 deck gunner.
Intelligence sub A fast and very light submarine focused on gathering intelligence. It comes equipped with an antenna and a periscope, being able to see its surroundings while under the water as well as show information to allies, it comes with only a 12.7mm deck gun, this sub is forced to surface every 10 minutes for air. This submarine come with a crew of 3, 1 driver, 1 intelligence officer, 1 deck gunner.
Ambush sub A fast yet semi tough sub focused on ambushes. Being able to stay under water for 8 minutes at a time. this is sub is focused on quick and effective ambushes, to complete this role it comes with the ability to have either a decent amount of light torpedos or a small amount of heavy torpedos, it also comes equipped with a forward facing interior 40mm gun only being able to turn 45 degrees, and two 12.7 machine guns. This sub has a crew of 5, one driver, three gunners and one engineer.
Cargo sub A large and slow cargo sub, only able to stay under water for 3 minutes at a time, this sub is focused on only doing short resupply missions over a short distance in heavily contested areas, only carrying a load of 3 crates at a time.This submarine comes equipped with only one 40mm deck gun. The maximum crew of this sub is three, one driver, one deck gunner, and one engineer.
Missile sub A medium health slow sub focused on hit and run tactics, it comes equipped with 6 rocket silos, one 12.7mm machine gun, and torpedoes, either heavy or light. It’s total crew is 4, one driver, one deck gunner, one silo operator, and one engineer
The super sub A very tough yet slow submarine made specifically for heavy and quick damage. This submarine takes a lot of heavy oil to run, but in turn is very strong and effective. It comes equipped with two 150mm guns, 1 missile rack, and two 68mm guns. Combing to a total crew of 7, five gunners, one engineer and one driver.
Please let me know what y’all think of my little sub list here, also sorry for any grammatical errors, it’s late at night and I’m so tired.

(I’m sure this has already been discussed, but…)
Star Trek provides example after example of how, when people have their basic needs met (food via replicators/shelter aboard a ship), they will fervently pursue academic/scientific interests, art, and exploration.
Anyone in the real world who opposes a universal basic income for food and shelter, or insists that it would deter people from working, has never enabled people to actually pursue their true passions.
The motivation to work and be productive is embedded into the vast majority of the human race. Examples exist all around us. Wikipedia, the largest encyclopedic database on the planet, operates almost exclusively on free contributions from passionate people. Look at what people build in Minecraft on their own time. Poke around any game-modding community, and see the time and energy people invest into building/developing things with no expectation of financial profit. Countless other instances can be found throughout history (and contemporary society) of people, with all their basic needs met, pursuing art, tech, and academia. Most people have a gene-deep desire to build, create, investigate, and explore.
Star Trek’s Starfleet continually gets this right: the ships’ engineers constantly work to refine processes to boost efficiency: not for profit or monetary gain, but as a matter of personal pride and satisfaction.
The scientists keep exploring even the most minor astronomical anomalies, the doctors keep studying the most niche biological phenomena, all out of curiosity. They are legitimately interested, and therefore personally invested. They want to deepen their understanding. They want to learn.
The interactions between various alien cultures are anthropologists’ and sociologists’ dreams come true: hence all the diplomatic cross-culture ceremonies and “duck-blind” study scenarios.
These characters are all personally invested in their work, because almost everyone has found the position where they receive personal satisfaction/fulfillment.
You might be thinking “what about the jobs like crate stacking or inventory cataloguing? No one wants to do those jobs in real life.” Oh yes they do. Some people live for it. Organizers come in all forms. Tell me you’ve never met someone who lives to be meticulously organized; or someone obsessed with Tetris; an archivist/librarian who lives to sort things.
“What about garbage collectors? Who’d want to be garbage collectors unless they had to?” Trust me, there are people motivated to keep their community clean. (Additionally, without profit/capitalism/consumerism, aka “waste culture” as the driving force behind most things including manufacturing, waste generation is significantly reduced: most things are built to last/be repaired, or generally recycled. Organic waste is composted, etc. I digress.)
In a galaxy that large, where people are encouraged to pursue their interests (not just relegate those interests to hobbies because “you can’t make a living doing that,”) means you get an incredibly diversified knowledge and resource base within your greater community.
Need an expert in the microscopic harmonic fluctuations of alien cell membranes? There is one a subspace transmission away. Need a specialist on the dietary habits of the yarn people of Nylar 4? They’ll be at the diplomatic brunch tomorrow.
Need a faster ship engine? Someone in a lab has dedicated the past decade to building one, and they’re excited to share.
(These hyper-specific academic/technical pursuits also suggest a greater tolerance/societal value placed on neurodivergence than most modern, socially-oriented capitalistic workspaces as well, but that’s a topic for a whole other post.)
And sure, with basic needs met, you’ll get a small subset of people who don’t want to “work.” Who just “exists”. But, as another point, is there something wrong with someone just enjoying being alive, and being content with that?
Whenever someone (usually older) refers to these hypothetical “unproductive people” as people who’ll just “lay around, playing video games all day,” I want to point out that this is a major fallacy.
Almost all video games are goal-oriented. Most gamers game to accomplish virtual objectives: to win battles, complete quests, rank up. Gaming is entirely objective driven, just like most other pursuits mentioned above: the reason we look down on gaming accomplishments is because “it’s not real,” or “it’s empty/hollow.” But! That’s because we’ve cultivated a societal structure in reality where these “Hollow Pursuits” are the only sense of satisfaction or accomplishment that most people can get, who are often laterally trapped along the professional ladder.
Research has shown that, Given the chance, and the right circumstances, people will direct that objective-oriented energy into something real/consequential in like 95% of cases. The reason “couch-potato” gamers are so common these days is because so many people are unsatisfied with the work/opportunities provided by their jobs/careers, and turn to gaming as alternative suppliers for these feelings of achievement and accomplishment. (Also, gaming allows fantasy/imaginative/alternative pursuits, but that’s another notion.)
“But universal basic income will encourage people to stay home and sleep/drink all day.”
Most healthy people, both ND and NT, find their own purpose to get out of bed each day and get something done. Left open, they’ll find it and chase it. That’s healthy people. Substance addiction and clinical depression are not indicative of healthy people. A more community-and-fulfillment-centric societal structure lends itself to better-developed resources for recovery and treatment. PLUS! Not having to worry about earning basic needs/pay rent to survive while struggling with addiction or emotional issues is a key factor to bettering mental/emotional health, and aids recovery. Studies (with lab animals) have also shown senses of community and support have significantly curbed addictive behaviors that otherwise flourish/metastasize in isolation.
I didn’t expect this post to end up this long. I’m curious to hear thoughts!

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Memory Transcription Subject: Supervisor Tern, Constellation Capital Ship*
Date [Standardized Human Time]: 20 October, 2136
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Aliens can't see below the surface.
That fact is as true now as it was when the aliens first invaded us. That fact has also been the saving grace for Ranghals for 150 years. Act like a herbivore, act like you're in a "herd", act "cured", and hide underground when you think you can't act as convincingly, and the aliens will be unable to see your true self. Because aliens can't see anything beyond what's on the surface.
Captain Korman's briefing is a testament to that.
He, along with the captains of all the other ships, have decided to leave the expedition before establishing a settlement, citing dangerously ineffective ship maintenance and predator diseased behaviour from settlers and crew. And not just the captains, most of the staff on their bridges and even some of the doctors and mechanics no longer want to be in this fleet anymore. All in all, 65 aliens, roughly one-third of the crew, will be departing shortly after this briefing, in the two ships this capital ship has been housing. Just like how you'd expect a prey species to react, running at the slightest hint of danger.
Our plan to secure the fleet from the Nevok worked perfectly, more than perfectly, in fact, since there was always the possibility of the command being shifted to the exterminators instead of us. The sabotage that was meant to take away the exterminators' primary weapon also seemed to break any trust the soon-to-be former command had on them. So the captains didn't want to transfer power to any of them, especially after the tantrum some of the exterminators threw when their flamethrowers were taken for inspection, instead they relied on the supervisors, most of whom were Ranghals, fortunately.
And here was where one of the more infuriating prejudices of the aliens reared its ugly head. It's no secret they consider Ranghals primitive by their standards, the constant berating by the captains and the alien crew members remind us of that every single day. But it seems they saw us like some moss-licking cave dwellers who have never even seen a spaceship much less be inside one. Talking to us like we were academy freshmans who never touched a simulation in their lives, trying to teach us basics like engine control, sensor data readings, proper landing procedures, and how to avoid collision with other ships. It was like they hear the word "primitive" and all that pops up in their minds are barely sapient animals who just discovered tools for the first time in their history.
The look of surprise on their faces when we showed them that the ones to replace them were already experienced in piloting ships and managing crews from our days in commanding orbital defense and patrol ships was as amusing as it was frustrating. I guess Captain Korman and the others conveniently glanced over that part when they read our files when they sent me and a few others in this room for a "predator disease" screening. Hearing that, the inexperienced alien mechanics and officers the captains did select to be their replacements backed out, clearing the way for us Ranghals to take their place. The captains seemed uneasy about that development, but didn't refute it. I had to commend them at least for that, for trusting us "primitives" over the exterminators. Otherwise, taking over the bridges, and subsequently, the fleet, would've been a more difficult and bloodier endeavor.
The second infuriating aspect of the aliens showed when Captain Korman discussed how to start our settlement should this planet be deemed suitable for it. His last act as captain was to send atmospheric and surface probes to survey the planet, to get more detailed readings of the planet's atmosphere and geology to see if it was really inhabitable, and also to look out for signs of sapient life. And this was where the discussion got interesting, as before we were just nodding along to the captain's words, since commanding ships was a familiar topic.
Apparently, if this planet did contain sapient life, we were supposed to not make first contact. Instead, we were to inform one of the founding species of this planet's location and leave in search of another planet. When I asked why we weren't allowed to make first contact, the captain said it was standard for Kolshians or Farsuls to take on first contact projects.
"It is most likely that whatever new species we find will be a herbivore species", Korman elaborated, "Usually they're peaceful, as we all are, but they could be especially prone to violence if they're too primitive, like the Yotul".
He said "Yotul", but he eyed all the Ranghals in this room as he said it, clearly trying to implicate us too, but without being too blatant about it.
"In that case, if something goes wrong with first contact, it could sour the potential relationship between that species and the Federation"
"And what if the new species is a predator?", Supervisor Heda asked the obvious question that was in all our minds.
The aliens in the room gasped and clutched their fur in shock. Their eyes went wide and their mouths hung agape, acting like we committed some grave blasphemy. While we Ranghals just looked at them with confusion. It was a simple question, but judging the aliens' reactions, it seems even bringing up the topic of sapient predators sends them into a mild panic.
"W-well th-there's nothing to worry about", Korman reassured himself and the others, "Predators don't possess the ability to cooperate as well as we do, unless it is for killing and hunting. So it is near impossible that we'll find an entire civilization of predators, if they even reached sapience, that is. Maybe just a few tiny primitive colonies here and there", the aliens all flicked their ears in acknowledgement.
Korman continued, "Of course, there are fringe cases, like the Arxur and Human, but they're just that, fringe. Whatever new species we do find, it'll most certainly be a herbivore species, like the rest of the galaxy"
Lies. The alien was lying. More than 300 species in this galaxy, and including us, they're only 3 species of sapient predators? It didn't feel right. If what the aliens tried to do to us Ranghals is any indication, what happened to other omnivores like us is abundantly clear. And so is the reason for not initiating first contact. Either "cured" or wiped out, the founders of the Federation have been modifying entire species to be herbivores for thousands of years, and changing their history to be hateful towards all meat-eaters. We are the only ones that apparently managed to prevent this, at great costs. The Southern Strip Massacre, the loss of our cattle, the vilification of our deity, and now the collapse of so many of our forests. The aliens are a scourge on the existence of life and nature. It's abundantly clear just hiding from the aliens isn't enough anymore. It's time we took Rangha back from the invaders, however risky it may be. This is the first step towards it.
The meeting concluded, the captains transferred leadership to their replacements, and headed to the return ships as they were being prepared for the 9 day journey back to our home planet. As for me and my crew, we headed to the bridge to assume our new positions, as did the rest of the replacement crew in their own respective ships. The fleet was now ours, however, there was still a dangerous element in it that still remained. The alien exterminators will need to be dealt with for us to be in complete control.
As we entered the bridge, we were greeted by the only alien officer who decided to stay behind instead of leaving like the rest of his crew. Rimik, a Nevok, sensors officer, and apparently the only one of the previous crew with a big enough mental constitution.
Even then, by his mannerisms and fidgeting, it was clear he was a bit intimidated by us. The crew suddenly changing from of his own people to one of a different, unknown species must be a little unsettling. But then again, it could be his instincts telling him something is wrong. He is a prey species, after all, and we are predators, we are about to ambush them. Rimik may not have succumbed to his instincts like the rest of the aliens, but they still affected him.
One of the more troubling and confusing aspect of the alien's psychology was the fact that they never seemed to have evolved past their base instincts. Uncontrollable stampedes, running or fainting at the slightest hint of fear, a voracious appetite for expansion, often to the detriment of their own ecosystems, and the mindless tendency to kill anything even remotely threatening to them. All these are your typical herding prey species behaviour. But these are what you'd expect from mindless animals, not from a sapient, intelligent, spacefaring species. Their instincts don't explain the callous disregard for the natural order they have, nor their refusal to learn anything about predators that doesn't reinforce their prejudices. Sometimes I wonder whether the aliens were really like this, or some elaborate act to take our planet for themselves. I made a note to myself to make learning about the aliens' nature a secondary goal of this mission.
"So, Rimik, how's the planetary survey coming along?", I asked the alien, who was sitting in his chair already pouring over the data the probes were sending back.
"It'll be another hour until the survey is complete, er… captain Tern", the sensors officer answered, "But from the data we have by now, this is looking promising", his voice got slightly more cheery as he continued, "Breathable air, farmable, non-toxic land and water, stable geology, this could be it, the planet we're looking for"
"That's good to hear", I said while silently signaling the others to start the operation. 3 officers got up and left the bridge to inform the others.
"It's a shame Captain Korman and the others decided to leave now. We're so close, I wish they stayed until the end of the expedition", Rimik spoke somberly.
"It's a shame indeed", I pretended to agree with the alien. My screen showed cam footage of the two ships where the aliens who would be leaving were. They were lounging around near the hangar and inside the ships, waiting for the final food crates to be loaded for departure, completely unaware of what was about to unfold.
"What made you stay then, Rimik? Why not go with the others?", I asked him.
"Oh… um… I just wanted to find new planets, I guess", Rimik staggered as he was not expecting this question, "Also… er… gaining favor with the Imperium, better financial opportunities, maybe even a title..."
Rimik rambled on about the Imperium and the potential good that can come out of being in their good graces. But I didn't pay attention to any of that because my mind was focused on what was happening on my screen. Several bright flashes of light curtained the footage of the hangars and ships for a split second as several LS bombs went off in the aliens' vicinity. The disoriented aliens there didn't have time to react to the white smoke that quickly filled the room, and the aliens collapsed where they stood one by one.
Alarms started blaring on all sections of the ship. The white sleeping gas seeped out from the vents and spread throughout the ship.
Toxic gas alert! Toxic gas alert! All personnel, equip your gas masks and stay clear of affected areas
The automated voice kept repeating itself. Not that it'd do much to help, since most areas of the ship were affected and I doubt a lot of the aliens will get to their gas masks before the sleeping gas gets them. Security cams showed aliens and Ranghals alike scrambling to get to their living quarters or the nearest utility room to get their gas masks. A lot of them did not manage to do so before they fell unconscious. The hangars and social rooms were the most affected, while the crew in the generator and engine rooms were mostly intact since they already had gas masks nearby.
"Wh-what the…? What's h-happening? Why now?", Rimik got up from his chair to get his gas mask, only to freeze in place as he saw his crewmates, including me, pointing their firearms at him.
"Wh- wh- wha… er… C-captain? Wh-what i-is…", all blood drained from Rimik's face and fur stood up on end in fear, he ducked his tail between his legs, which were now shaking uncontrollably.
I ordered two of the officers on the bridge to tie up the alien. They lowered their guns, donned their gas masks and left the bridge to find something to tie up Rimik with.
"Th-this is a j-joke, r-right?", the alien was sobbing, "W-why are you d-doing this?"
"You're getting your wish, Rimik. No-one is leaving this expedition", I said with a threatening glare, "Don't move. We don't want to hurt you unless we have to"
I guess we should stop calling this an expedition now. It was an insurrection, our first real fight against the aliens since the Southern Strip Massacre. The last thing we want is the larger Federation knowing about this, especially when we still can't take them on in a head-on-head fight.
I addressed the communications officers, "Open channels to all ships. Tell them we're moving to Stage 2"
The two officers came back with wires and began tying up Rimik, who looked like he was ready to scream his lungs out, but the officers shut his muzzle so all that came out of Rimik was loud muffles.
With the only alien in the room subdued, we relaxed a little.
"I'll lock the bridge now. Don't open the doors for anybody until Fria and her team arrives", I closed my eyes as I sat on my chair.
This was it. Our first step away from living under the aliens' claws.

As always, thank you to u/SpacePaladin15 for the wonderful universe that is NoP
Thank you to u/cruisingNW for proof reading and helping me out of some hang ups, you're the man! Honestly LoM wouldn't have gone very far without him! If you haven't you should absolutely go read Foundations of Humanity! It's very good.
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Memory Transcription Subject: Christopher A. Dewey, Human Merchant Sailor, Venlil-Human Exchange Participant
Date [Standardized Human Time]: August 29th, 2136, Very Early Morning.
We got a message an hour ago from Videk, ordering us to report to Hangar-08 to start On-Stick training; and to bring our bags! I guess the guy had wanted to get as much out of the day as he could. That or he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.
Videk met us at the doors to the hangar, a small travel bag sitting on the floor by his side, tail swaying slowly as he watched us approach. “Good Waking, Taisa. Good Waking… Christopher.” An improvement, I’ll have to ask Taisa about that talk they had.
“This,” He continued, motioning to the shuttle parked in the hangar behind him with his tail. “Is your training shuttle: registration C1-0V3R-HR-EX.Your first On-Stick training assignment will be to follow appropriate lift off and departure procedures, plot and follow a course to The Capitol on Venlil Prime, seek permission to land from the proper authorities, and land safely and legally following those permissions. All of this, while following proper procedure and regulations. All of this will be graded.”
As he speaks the door behind him slides open, revealing a broad hangar bay, heavy clamshell doors dominate the far wall. At the center of the bay sits a stout craft painted white and black, a pair of stubby wings jutting from its sides flowing into a pair of engines flanking a singular tail. Venlil script is painted at the root of the tail and on the top of the rear ramp.
“Upon arrival in the Capitol you will have some paperwork to do at the U.N. offices with regards to your habitation. I will need to pick up some equipment from the training facility at the landing fields. After our respective errands, let’s say half a claw, we will meet up back at the shuttle and from there you will be plotting an in-atmosphere route to Shadetree, Sunward of the Capitol, to drop me off and wait for me to install and calibrate the remote instructing equipment. Once that is completed, you will plot another in-atmosphere course to Heartwood River, concluding this paws evaluations. Do you have any questions?”
I shook my head, and Taisa flicked her ears, in what I believed was a negative. “Very good, load your stuff and we’ll begin immediately.”
After a few minutes of finding places to tie off our belongings and get everything situated, I sat in the pilot’s seat and ran through the pre-flight check with Taisa. We caught a pair of faults in the starboard fuel delivery units. Videk seemed pleased we had caught them, and that he hadn’t had to tell us they were there. I could feel a slight smile tug at the corner of my mouth.
Devious little bastard makes for a damn good instructor.
Once the preflight was complete I closed the rear ramp and hailed the flight control tower. “Tower this is shuttle C1-0V3R-HR-EX requesting clearance for departure, place us enroute to Venlil Prime with planned landing zone of Capitol Shuttle Field 13-Bravo.” A Human voice came back over the line, a bit of mirth in their voice. “Shuttle, Tower, you are clear for departure, opening bay doors now. Good luck and Godspeed.”
The doors to the station hangar yawned open, filling the viewport with the void and all its stars beyond as I slowly brought the shuttle off the hangar floor, easing it out through the opening. I reached over to the nearest display and opened the Nav-computer interface, plotting our course to VP, and then on to the Capitol landing fields. Once I was confident I had the proper navigation commands and sequences set I called over Videk to have him review my work.
He gave me a quick flick of his tail before saying “Looks good, Christopher. Feel free to spool and jump when you’re ready.”
Videk’s approval given, I reached over and pushed forward on the throttles, engaging the drive and hurtling the shuttle into subspace.
It. Was. Beautiful. Everything seemed to stretch, stars in the distance turning from pinpricks of light into brilliant colorful streaks, lengthening as we bounded through the void. Lines of light far off in my periphery zip past like tracers as the ones before me feel as if they’re pulling me in with their kaleidoscope of color. The hum of the shuttle fell into the background while I became entranced by the light show in front me, picturing myself on the set of one of those old sci-fi shows I would watch with Pa on the weekends. The Future my ancestors had imagined was Here, right before my eyes and at the tips of my fingers! This view was… Hypnotic. The simulator couldn’t hope to do it justice.
Two hours. That was it.
Two hours to travel what, until very recently, would have been considered an insurmountable distance for Humanity. Dropping from Sub-space into the proximity of Venlil Prime was another astoundingly brilliant view. Scorched white deserts flowing into massive swathes of golden sands cut by the occasional streak of blue before blending into a beautiful verdant mix of turquoise and green fields, with vast lakes and rivers dotting the forests, flowing into wide marshy wetlands. Before finally, the curve of the planet fell away from its star, allowing the fading sunlight to showcase glittering city lights dotting the countryside.
The thrusters burn to life, crackling and thrumming with power as they drive us forward through the void to the beautiful marble before us. I flip two switches on the overhead, tapping the leftmost display to call up the local channel list and place a hail to the Capitol’s landing fields to request clearance and pad assignment. A quick ping, signifying my hail had been acknowledged, chimed over the console speaker.
“Capitol Shuttle Field 13-Bravo this is Shuttle C1-0V3R-HR-EX requesting clearance for landing at an available pad of convenience.” “C1-0V3R-HR-EX, you are cleared for landing, 13-Bravo, direct to pad Charlie-5.”
The Flight through the Void may have had some feeling of familiarity and nostalgia to the old Sci-fi shows at home; but in-atmo had the far better view! Rolling turquoise fields and towering thick trees, with their canopies tilted greedily towards that unmoving sun, falling away to a gargantuan metropolitan area, its architecture entirely alien yet still somehow familiar. Massive skyscrapers soar to touch the sky, reflecting light in brilliant angles and colors, the space below them populated by squat sturdy buildings and deep black roads. The Venlil going about their lives below look like ants as I ease off the throttle, taking the speed down to prepare for the final approach. The display on the viewport flags my landing area with a small pip guiding me in, slow and easy.
The cabin jostles slightly as the ship settles onto its landing gear. Videk seemed impressed; his ears up as he tapped away at his data pad! Taisa’s tail sways happily back and forth as she runs through the diagnostics of the landing, checking system status reports.
“Looks like we’re all clear. Videk do you have a time we should try and be back by?” Taisa beeps, showing the flight instructor the console in front of her.
“I just need to pick up the equipment and get it linked up, that should only take about a half a claw. Walking to and from the landing field and the U.N. Offices should put you at about the right time.” Videk turned away and made for the ramp; Taisa’s talk helped, and he was clearly trying, but he was still a bundle of nerves around me. His fur was so puffed out it looked like he was holding more static than a thunderhead.
As we stepped out of the artificial gravity of the shuttle I felt like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. My first step faltered making me stumble down the ramp and bounce off the… soft pavement? “Oh, forgot about that.” Videk winced sympathetically, “Our gravity is about twenty percent more than earth’s, so be careful. Falls are likely to hurt a little bit more here.”
“Would’ve been nice to know first, Videk.” I groaned, rolling myself over and sitting up, luckily the visor hadn’t fallen off; I would need to add one of those new back braces and some knee compressors to that order of stuff from home. “Do you know where the U.N. Offices are? Or should we just ask around to find our way there?”
“I do not, but you should be able to get directions on your pad. I trust the two of you can figure it out, so I’m going to go get the equipment I need. I will wait for the two of you with the shuttle once I am ready.” With a parting flap of his ears, Videk turned and walked away; flicking the tip of his tail back and forth as he did.
“Alright then,” I grumbled, forcing myself up off the pavement, swaying as I found my new equilibrium. “let’s get going. Can you pull up those directions?” She nodded slightly, flicking her ears forward. “Got them up already! You alright there?”
“I’m fine.” I grunted, rolling out my shoulder a little. “Feels like I weigh a quarter ton, but I’ll get over it with time. Lead the way.”
After a few minutes of walking we were off the landing fields and into the streets of the city. My boots sinking into the pavement a little with each step, just like on the landing field. “Taisa, what is this stuff? I figured it was just to make landings a little softer on shuttles but it’s everywhere! Looks like pavement but it gives like rubber; why are your roads like this?” “Anti-stampede concrete.” She stated, matter of factly, like that meant literally anything to me. My silence must have tipped her off that I wasn’t getting it as she focused one eye on my visor. “Oh… I guess Humans wouldn’t need that. It’s to help reduce stampede fatalities, it’s the same reason the roads and buildings have gentle curves, no sharp angles.” Looking around at the way the groups of Venlil flowed through the streets I realized she was right, what I had thought was a futuristic aesthetic design was just to keep people from killing each other against walls or trampling them into the ground when they got scared. How strange… and slightly worrying.
“Weird, that sounds like some crazy wonder material. Bet we’d have a bunch of uses for it back on earth.” My eyes watched the tips of skyscrapers towering above us, “How far out does it say we are?”
“Only a little further, about one and a half kilometers.” She responded, a slight pant in her voice. I wasn’t in the best shape, cardio wise, but I couldn’t imagine getting winded after 10 minutes of walking; guess all that talk about the Venlil having less stamina than us was right.
The U.N. Office complex was a series of giant flowing buildings built on a large park area. It wasn’t any design I had ever seen so I figured it had to have been an existing complex that just got turned over to the U.N. for their uses.
Passing through the heavy glass front doors we found a wide receptionist's desk, with several Humans sitting behind it, answering questions and directing people where they needed to go. One of the receptionists, a short dark haired woman with a visor obscuring her face, beckons us over. “Hello! How can I help you today?” “H-Hi!” Taisa beeps excitedly, her tail swaying behind her confidently as she takes a deep breath and straightens her back. “We’re part of the ‘integration’ experiments, we were told we need to fill out some forms for habitation. Where do we go to do that?” “Oh! Congratulations! That would be Suite 216-B” The receptionist answered, excitement in her voice as she pointed to a room on the map infront of her.
“Thank you!” Taisa responded, turning to head up the stairs behind the receptionist's desk. Halfway up the stairs she swiveled her ears over to me before saying. “Sorry, I figure if I’m probably going to have to work with Humans other than you for this I should try and at least work on being able to talk to them.” “It’s alright,” I chuckle, patting her shoulder. “That’s a great idea and you’re doing alright!” Walking down the hallways we saw prints of landscapes from Earth, Machu Picchu, the Uyuni Salt Flats, The Grand Canyon, YellowStone, Hạ Long Bay, The Zhangye Mountains and Plitvice Lakes. I pointed out the places I had been to as we walked past them, finally stopping at suite 216-B.
The door was open so we knocked, getting a quick ‘enter’, before stepping in. A man sits behind a desk, the top covered in organized files and folders, a placard on his desk declares his name as ‘Obediah Kamara’ with a small Liberian flag stamped beside it.
His visor obscures his face as he looks between the two of us before beginning. “I presume you are…” He sorts through a couple of the files and folders before stopping on one and opening it, pulling out a document packet. “Christopher Dewey and Taisa. Correct?”
We both respond in the affirmative as he gestures for us to take the seats across from him, sliding the documents across the table as Taisa’s pad pings on her belt. “These are agreements to ensure that you,” He starts, looking at me. “Understand the rules in regards to your habitation here on Venlil Prime. I understand that part of your integration will be taking you off world to and from Earth, these rules primarily apply to your time here. We ask that you remain considerate of the provided rules and guidelines on the ship if you are carrying Venlil passengers. Taisa, those are the terms, conditions, compensations and requirements for your family to house a human when the two of you are present. Virtual signature of that document is required within the next 3 of your ‘paws’.” Taisa stiffened a little bit, likely thinking about her Mother’s response to my arrival; that was something we were probably going to have to have a talk about later. I had an idea for the short term, at least. I ran through the paperwork real quick and it was all pretty simple: don’t be without the visor or some kind of face covering in settings where you couldn’t guarantee that an unprepared Venlil wouldn’t see you, avoid aggression, speak quietly, no eating meat, animal products or byproducts, no hunting local wildlife; bit odd considering I didn’t even have a bow or a gun but rules are rules, I suppose.
“Sounds good to me,” I said, signing the indicated portions of the document. “When are my items supposed to get here?”
“We don’t expect your requested items to arrive for another week or so, for now you’ll have to make do with what you brought with you.” Obediah responded, shuffling the packet of papers back into the folder they had come from. “With that complete you are free to go. I understand you have training to complete, so I wish you good luck with your endeavor. If you have any questions or needs with regards to your habitation you can contact Sam, their details will be forwarded to your communication devices.”
I caught Taisa’s tail twitching as her ears swiveled nervously out of the corner of my eye; even with her attempts to push through it I think the amount of Humans around was starting to get to her. Still, she was doing better than I think a lot of Venlil would be able to manage. I reached over, gently tapping my hand against her paw, trying to ground her a little before motioning to go, she nodded slightly as she flicked her ears.
“Thank you, Obediah, we’ll be sure to get into touch with them once we get their contact. Have a good day!”
Taisa and I stood, exiting the room and making our way out of the building, stopping to look at another picture or two along the way. Something needed to be done about possibly not having a place to stay to put my, and more so Taisa’s, mind at ease. I figured I could sleep in the shuttle, if I had to. It wouldn’t be particularly comfortable but I could certainly do it; I’d need a mat, maybe a sleeping bag or some blankets and a pillow.
I had no clue where I was going to get my hands on those, or at least a set of them big enough for me to actually use.
Then I saw the temporary units in the field near the offices. Men and Women in U.N. fatigues were milling about the area. Barracks? That could solve the problem, if they’re willing to help out a man in need, of course.
“Hey, Taisa, I need to make a stop real quick.” I state, walking briskly towards the largest of the buildings. “What’s up?” She asks, ears focused on me as she tilts her head a little.
“Well, I was thinking, I don’t think your parents, your Mom especially, won’t, uh… won’t want me around. At least not for a little while until she gets to know me better.”
“I think you can get past it, she’s not that bad… It’ll just be tough.”
“Oh I’m sure I can get past it, but I’d rather not just sleep in the grass in the meantime.” “I don’t think she’d make you sleep in the grass…” “I like being prepared, if she doesn’t want me in her house I’m not going to push the issue.”
“I just… I hope it doesn’t come to that, I’m not going to let her toss you outside like an animal.” She sighs quietly as we push through the front door of the barrack building.
A desk manned by a napping U.N. Marine with Private ranks stuck to his shoulders filled the space beyond the doors. He stirs as the doors clank shut behind us before scrambling to throw on his Visor as he notices Taisa.
“Hello, Uh… Can I help you? This area is for active U.N. personnel only.” He starts, his voice finding its authority only about halfway through the statement.
I stand straight, trying to muster the stern demeanor I’d found in my father and his friends so often when they tried to get something on base after their retirements. “Easy, Private. It has come to my attention that my accommodations lack proper bedding.” “O-Oh, uh, I apologize…” He stammers out, searching for something to say, likely looking to find a way out of trouble for sleeping on duty.
“Sir.” I state. “What’s your name, Private?”
“A-Alvarez, Sir.”
“Alvarez. I’ll remember that, Alvarez, how about we make this quick, you get me a wrap of blankets, 3 pillows and a bedroll and I don’t find your commander to report your… lack of enthusiasm.”
The private snaps to attention before firmly stating. “Yes Sir! I’ll be right back, Sir!”
As the private turns and walks away crisply I hear Taisa whistle with laughter a little beside me. “I’m surprised that worked.”
“You’d be surprised what a hard voice, straight back and the right slacking Private can get you if you just don’t go pushin' it too far in your story.” I whispered with a wink.
After a few minutes of waiting Private Alvarez returned with a duffle bag, stuffed full with blankets and pillows, as well as an inflatable bedroll under the other arm. “Here you go, Sir. Will this be ok?” He asked, passing the items over to me.
“Perfect, thank you Private.” I took the bundle of bedding and turned to the door, before turning my head back over my shoulder, “Oh, and Private? Do try and get proper rest before duty.”
A shaking “Y-Yes, Sir.” followed Taisa and I out of the door.
The first half of the walk back to the landing field was quiet, I was scanning the skyline again, I just couldn’t get over the fact that I was on another planet. Taisa however had her ears pinned back, her paws lightly holding her tail tuft as we walked.
“What’s got ya down?” I asked, watching the herd of Venlil glide around us as we came, trying their best not to get too close to me.
“I’m… concerned.” She sighed, the tip of her tail twitching between her paws.
“About?”
“My mother, what she’ll say… What she’ll do.”
“I can’t exactly say I know what her reaction’ll be… But, whatever it is we’ll just have to deal with it. It’ll probably take time, but we’ll get by.” I soothed. She let go of her tail, placing the tip of it on my back, but her ears didn’t let up at all.
The rest of the walk to the shuttle was quiet as she fidgeted with her paws, trying to take her mind off of the subject. Videk was there waiting for us, a few crates secured to the cargo area of the shuttle that weren’t present before.
“You two ready?” He asked, flicking his tail at us.
“I think so.” I responded, stowing the bedding in an empty compartment as Taisa flicked her ears.
We ran through our preflight checklist again, finding another pre-placed failure from Videk waiting for us, this time in the starboard control surfaces. Once the check was done we radioed the tower for clearance to take off and set an in-atmo course for Shadetree to drop off Videk. It was a short hop, about a half hour of flying or so before I had to call ahead for clearance to land again.
Most of the flight from the Capitol to Shadetree had been rolling turquoise and green hills or open fields of produce growing in the everpresent light. A sudden dense forest rose from the fields, thick dark brown trees with fluttering golden leaves stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. A sudden break in the forest revealed a clearing for the Landing field, much smaller than the one at the Capitol. The city was built under the canopy of the trees, giving it a constant filtered light casting down through the shifting leaves. It was certainly a beautiful town, I’d have to come back to visit some day. Maybe once Videk had warmed up to me a little bit more.
As the ramp fell ,a small cargo truck arrived alongside the shuttle to collect Videk and his equipment. I offered to help but the Venlil driver just about ran when I started talking so I figured it was probably best to just keep out of it. Once the cargo truck departed, Taisa came back up to the cockpit, plopping down in her seat, and looked through the viewscreen at the trees beyond. The soft hiss of the ramp closing marked the finality of Videk’s departure.
“So, how are you feeling about Venlil Prime so far?” She asked, one eye on my face as I finally slipped the visor off.
“I like it! Between the beautiful scenery, interesting architecture and hanging out with you and Shamrock, here I’m having a great time!” I responded, rubbing my hand on what amounted to the shuttle's dashboard.
“... Shamrock?” She asked, her tail swaying in what I figured for amusement.
“Yea! Remember how I told you Humans like looking for patterns? Well it works on words and numbers as well. The tail number for the shuttle could be taken to spell ‘Clover-HR-EX’, or just clover for short. Clovers are a type of plant on earth that a few cultures believed to be lucky, one way or another. One of the nicknames for them was a Shamrock!”
She laughed at me.
“You are such a dork.” She said, wiping a tear from her eye as her tail whipped back and forth. “It’s a good name, usually shuttles don’t get one. I think it fits.”
I chuckled, a thought crossing my mind. “Think we could get any shuttle-grade paint? Preferably green, yellow and black?” She raised an eyebrow at me as her ears cocked at different elevations. “Oh? Someone feeling a little artistic?”
“Well, I could always paint a Shamro-” I was interrupted as the ping signifying we were being hailed sounded off. “We’ll finish this later.” I said, pointing at her as I accepted the hail.
Videk’s voice bled through the speakers. “Ok, looks like the connection is secure. Let’s go ahead and run through getting you familiar with the software, it should be quick and easy.”
It was not.
It took two hours. After a lot of trial and error, stop and go flights to test the connection and a few near misses with an especially tall tree we had gotten the system setup such that Videk was confident it would work in an emergency if he needed to step in. With that all squared away Taisa and I settled in to get on our way to Heartwood River. Sleeping on the blow up mattress or on a real bed hardly mattered at this point, I just wanted to sleep.
The overall flight time was set to be about an hour and a half, not too bad and man was the view beautiful: rolling fields, roaring rivers, pristine skies and alien forests abounded across the countryside. We had just passed over Hidden Plains when Taisa and I were just settling back into talking about her parents and our best route to try and handle them, when the hail system chimed and immediately spat out a harsh tone without acknowledgement, the same one the simulator used for distress calls.
“Mayday Mayday Mayday. Report of shots fired at residence housing humans. Need immediate medical evac at The Berrypatch Farm in The Grove, 11 minutes Night-ward from Hidden Plains. Hailing all airborn craft, we need a medical evac immediately!”
I immediately returned the hail. “This is cargo shuttle C1-0V3R-HR-EX. Responding to Mayday from the Grove. We are en-route to render aid. Hold tight, we’ll be there.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Taisa tighten her flight harness as I reached for the throttle.
---
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FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
Apparently, Krill did not check with law enforcement after the Rumors chapter…
Well shit…
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Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
The darkness around them was hot and stifling. Their breath had leached the freshness out of the crate hours ago, leaving them sitting in a stale muggy darkness. Sunny shifted in the near darkness, struggling to see with the single beam of meager light which filtered in from above.
Adam lay in her arms blacked out completely.
She let his upper body rest gently in her lower arms, while her upper arms searched through his blond hair –matted with dried blood– and across his scalp.
She swore she was going to kill the person who did this to him.
Didn't they know what a knock in the head could do to a human? Didn't they understand what a concussion meant?
He needed a doctor, he needed Krill, but the little physician wasn't with them now.
He was back on the Tesraki home planet with the ship.
And they were... well Sunny had no idea where they were.
It had all happened so fast, one moment they were walking through the streets, going through market vendor stalls and laughing about something stupid, and the next moment Adam was lying unconscious on the ground and her head was inside a bag.
She would have fought, but they threatened to hurt Adam if she did.
Perhaps if it had been some other person, she might have taken that chance, but she wasn't nearly willing enough to risk Adam for her own perceived vanity.
After the attack, they had quickly been carted off across the city and loaded into this crate. She had heard the sound of the docks and the roaring of engines. She had sat in here for hours as the ship passed in and then out of warp.
Wherever they were, they were miles away from home, with no one to come and same them.
And Adam was injured, likely concussed.
Worst of all is that she couldn't even see his eyes to check and make sure if he was ok or not. His breathing was relatively even, a slow expansion of his chest and ribs over and over and over again.
She adjusted herself, groaning softly as she attempted to stretch out her legs. Adam's body was dead weight in her hands as she moved him pulling him further onto her lap to where she could hold him with her right set of arms while examining his wound with the other two.
His head rested against her shoulder breath hot on her neck.
Good, she could make sure he was still alive that way.
The engine thrummed.
She had tried to break out of the box first thing of course, but that action had proven to be fruitless, as had screaming. The engine was much too loud. She had, of course, tried engineering her way out of the box, but without tools, space and with Adam's dead weight to work around, that had also been a fruitless option.
So, she sat in the dark and waited.
She was beginning to worry that Adam would never wake up when he finally began to stir.
Sunny sighed a deep sigh of relief.
"Adam. Adam, are you ok, can you hear me?"
For a horrible moment there was no answer, but then a groggy,
"Sunny... Where are we... Why can't I see?”
A hint of panic crept into his voice.
"Shh, you're ok we are just stuck in a crate, that's all."
"Oh that's good,"
He paused,
"Never thought I would say that about being stuck in a crate."
She sighed again in relief, glad to see that he was at least lucid and understood what was happening,
"Now hold on, what happened, and why do I have such a raging headache?”
She shifted slightly in her space as he adjusted himself.
The crate was small, so there wasn't really anywhere for him to go, so he just ended up resting more securely against her chest, head resting on her chest plate her lower arms wrapped around him to keep him in place.
"We were attacked, you were knocked out and I was threatened."
"And you didn't screw them up?"
"They were threatening to kill you. I only had so many options."
He grunted, and in the dark he sighed, turning his head so his cheek was brushing up against her,
"This has been a shit day."
That made her laugh. Leave it to Adam to make her laugh when their lives were in danger.
Nothing much they could do about the situation now, and they remained in darkness, curled up together under the roaring of the engine.
Both of them felt it when the ship came into atmosphere, growing more and more nervous as they felt their crate being shifted and moved. Their little sliver of light was completely gone now leaving them in complete darkness as they were jostled and jolted around inside the crate. Then there came voices, Tesraki, Drev, Burg, and another voice which was far less familiar to Sunny than any of the others.
She felt Adam go still in her arms.
"What?”
"Prodigum."
He hissed, the sharp crack of the spat word hissing through the darkness.
”Prodigum?”
Sunny didn't know much about that species. The only thing she knew for sure is that they had withdrawn from peace talks with the GA and were an outside entity. She knew they occasionally traded with the GA and that Adam had had some run-ins with them. Run-ins like human slave trade or… infant meat trade that gave him a serious hatred for their kind, which was uncharacteristic for his usual forgiving nature.
The crate jolted and rocked.
A distant thrumming filled the background, the lull of conversation, and then it went silent again.
The box jolted downwards.
"Here master, just as you requested."
"I assume you got a good specimen?"
Adam and Sunny leaned up against the walls of their crate trying to determine who or what was speaking.
"You will be most pleased with us master. Got you a real fine specimen we did, worth well over the asking prices. Will be the most exotic piece to your collection for sure."
There was a low sort of guttural rumble from the outside of the crate.
"I will be the judge of that. Open the crate."
There was some shuffling for a moment, a sharp snap and the sides of the box fell away. Sunny and Adam were forced to raise their hands against the light as bright purple and blue light assailed them from all directions. They blinked past the shade cast by their hands.
The room they stood in was strange.
They got the feeling that the open space was supposed to be some kind of meeting space or gathering room.
Perhaps even some sort of entertainment room with how large it was, two floors connected by wide arching ramps up either side of the wide room. The floor below them was a purplish sort of grey made even more so by the blue and purple lights from above.
Adam turned his head in a wide arc, his head raised towards the ceiling. Sunny followed his gaze, and was immediately horrified.
Overhead at least twenty cages had been suspended from the ceiling. Though most of them were either empty, three others were occupied.
Two sick, mournful looking humans and a bleached white skeleton.
"The fuck!?”
Adam turned his head, eyes narrowing towards the group that stood around them, and Sunny got her first good look at the Prodigum.
She was not pleased with what she saw.
It had to be the ugliest thing she ever saw, and that meant something with them knowing the Burg.
The creature was big, maybe a little taller than her.
It had a body sort of like a gorilla, if gorillas were absolutely hideous in every way.
Its back legs were short and stumpy, just one massive fleshy mass, holding up their incredible bulk. They had no neck to speak of, and their arms were absolutely massive, jutting ninety degrees from their shoulders and then ninety degrees again at the elbow. IF you were to have stretched out one of their arms it would almost have been one to two thirds’ times as tall as their own bodies.
Each arm was thicker than a man's waist, and instead of hands it had one long pointy spike.
When they walked, they walked on their wrists as if a human were to go to walk on their knuckles but have their wrist buckle leaving the spike to point back and up.
Its body was covered in an immense and pendulous collection of baggy folds which swung heavily from side to side as it moved.
There was no neck, and its large face was droopy, its horrific mouth a grotesque, sagging heap like a child was trying to melt a playdough smiley face in the microwave.
With two sets of eyes on either side of its grotesque head and the numbers spaghetti like protrusions, which dangled from its throat – writhing to and fro while also acting as the creature's hands – it was a grotesque and monstrous sight.
Sunny made a face. Adam grunted,
"Disgusting."
The aliens gnored them and kept speaking,
"And the Drev?"
"Consider her a bonus."
The big ugly creature grunted, expelling a burst of air from the two breathing tubes which sagged from either side of its neck, their ends opening and closing like the blowholes of a whale.
Adam shifted and stood unsteadily against Sunny's protests gripping the bars with white knuckled hands.
"You have no idea what you have just started, ugly!”
The Prodigum laughed, through it came out as wet gurgling snorts from its breathing tubes,
"Oh I know exactly what I have started… commander Vir."
Adam stepped back in shock, nearly tripping over Sunny in their tight confines.
The Prodigum leaned in close to the cage, the little spaghetti-like tentacles waving before the bars curling uncurling or wrapping themselves around cold steel.
Adam made a face.
"In fact, it was your presence which I requested personally."
He turned in his spot to look at the room around him, which Sunny was becoming to understand was far larger than she had originally assumed.
"I have many wealthy clients who don't settle for just anyone, commander. Your prestige will be a great selling point."
"What even is this place?"
"Many things, many things. It is a place of business, a place of frivolity, and a place where humans do what they are told."
His voice grew low and quiet. One of his large, spiked arms raised off the floor somewhat. The Spike brandished.
"And what exactly do you expect me to do for you?"
He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Why, the only thing humans are good for… I want you to sing!”
This time both Adam and Sunny were dumbstruck,
"You want me to do what now?"
"Sing, commander. You do know what singing is, don't you?”
Adam shook his head,
"You have got to be fucking kidding me. That's it!? That's why you kidnapped one of the most –not to brag or anything– powerful men in the GA. The guy with the firepower of an entire human fleet behind him, and you brought me here to be your cage canary!? To sing you little songs!!??"
The Prodigum grunted,
"That is precisely what I expect you to do, commander."
Adam proceeded to laugh in his face,
"You have got to be kidding me. Not only is this possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard of just in principle, but it is ALSO dumb because there are thousands of humans out there who can sing better than me. Sure, I can carry a tune, but I'm not Freddie mercury."
The Prodigum was not looking as bothered by the comments as he probably should have been. In fact, he almost seemed amused,
"This is not about your ABILITY to sing commander. Most nonhumans can't actually tell the difference between good and bad singing, they simply know it is something they cannot do. No, I didn't bring you here for your skill, I brought you here because of your importance. When my clients see you, they are going to understand what you represent... And that is my complete and total control, my absolute impunity when it comes to the law, and my ability to do whatever I want. You are a symbol of my power."
"Yeah, and you can suck a bag of dicks."
The Prodigum leaned closer,
"You will do what I want you to do."
A group of tentacles wriggled through the bars waving before their faces. Sunny saw it coming way before the Prodigum did, though he definitely should have seen it coming. The way the human's body tensed up, the way he grew still, the way his eyes drew to laser focus, the way that his knees bent and his hands curled at his sides.
And then he struck.
Like a cobra.
With one hand he reached out wrapping his fingers around a handful of the nasty wriggling tentacles before yanking hard.
The Prodigum screamed.
Sunny lunged forward to help all four of her arms shooting through the bars as Adam dug his fingers into the writhing tentacles.
There was an eruption of movement.
Adam craned his neck downwards, mouth open teeth poised to strike.
Everyone knew what a human bite meant.
And then there was an eruption of pain. Lightning coursed across her vision and Sunny found herself on the ground, legs twitching. She heard Adam yell, he was screaming through his teeth.
And then a dull thud.
The pain went away.
She looked over to find Adam sagging against the bars of the cage.
The Prodigum had retreated with his posse surrounding him…
He mewled with pain, a few of his face tentacles dripping blue onto the floor, others hanging limp and unusable.
The human began to laugh, despite the pain of the electric shock,
"Fuck-you."
With anger in his expression, the Prodigum looked up,
"Secure the Drev."
Sunny struggled to her feet as both her and Adam realized what was happening.
Sunny yelled for Adam to duck, but he was too late, a loop slipped over his neck tightening and pulling him against the side of the cage.
He choked and gasped trying to force his fingers under the loop kicking and struggling as the door was thrown open and Sunny was electrocuted again, before a group of others piled atop her securing her arms and dragging her form the cage, which was then shut.
Adam was let go, staggering to his knees, hands clenched around his throat.
He choked and gasped.
"I am going to make this very clear for you human."
Sunny was hauled upwards by the back of her carapace and suspended in the air.
"Do what I wish, or the Drev dies.”
Sunny struggled against their arms, looking back towards the cage where Adam knelt.
She wished he would tell them to go to hell, but she could see almost immediately by the expression on his face and the pain in his single green eye that the Prodigum had done it.
He had found Adam's weakness.
He had found humanity's greatest trait and their greatest weakness.
Their lo…yalty.
And now they were in his power.
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Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

I installed a new radiator & brushless Spal fans from DeWitts in my '87 Silverado with a mild 350. A "350 HO" crate engine. Vortec heads, small cam, 340ish HP.
Running Edelbrock EFI that recommends a 180 thermostat so that's what I have in it.
The brushless fans don't use a controller - they ramp up/down based on temp from a temp sensor mounted in the tank of the radiator. The current sensor turns them on at 175 and ramps up to full speed at 195.
My EFI temp gauge read 181 when they turned on at idle and cooled the temp down to 174. Driving, even hard driving, it never went above 190 and when the fans would ramp up it would cool down to below 180 in just a few seconds.
Question is - being that the thermostat is 180, is it an issue to have the temp straddle that number based on fan speed, or should I get the next sensor up and let it run above thermostat temp once it's warmed up?
Next sensor up is 190 on, ramps to full by 215. I expect it will keep it in the 185-195 range based on how well it works right now, but on a really hot day idling in traffic I guess it could go over 200.
Which would be the better option?

I'm going to tell the story of my new boss and hope to gain new perspective on the situation from people's comments.
I work in production, more specifically I assemble/build coffee roasters. The company is a small business of approximately 15 or so people, I am currently 1 of 2 people who actually build the machines. Before my new boss (we'll call Pablo) started, my good friend Joe was in his position. Joe was with the company for about a month before I started. Joe is a young and bright Engineer, Joe was hired to advance the machines and implement new technologies and innovations. However, Joe was quickly tasked with part ordering, quality control, tech support, and some lesser but time consuming tasks. He was more or less expected to be the production manager and Engineer. Needless to say Joe reached his breaking point within 6 months and took a better paying job that was in his field. After Joe quit we didn't have any formal production manager for about 3 months. My coworkers (there were 3 of us) and I did all we could to stay afloat and keep producing machines. We did well and kept up with demand, however eventually we were running out of parts. The company owneCeo (very hands off) didn't trust any of us to be in charge of ordering parts so he interviewed and hired Pablo. At first we were all happy to have him and we welcomed him and his ideas to the team. Pablo at first seemed to be an upbeat guy who wanted to bring more structure to the way we do things. He told us our input was important and that we would make decision would be made as a team. His first week we were put to work cleaning and organizing the shop, he did his fair share of work as well. Overall is was a productive and team building first week. However, first thing the following monday he more or less makes one of our guys quit. Stephen was a recent Mechanical engineering graduate who did all of the electrical panels for our machines, he was a sweet soft spoken guy who was a big value to the team. Stephen's father was being considered for a position that would have moved their whole family to another state, no one knew forsure as the hiring process was not over. Stephen decided to tell our owneceo that he may potentially be moving, just as a heads up. The owner (Ron) and Stephen had a mutual understanding of the situation. Pablo found out about Stephen's situation and decided to expedite the process for then unknown reasons. Pablo accosted Stephen and forced him to make a decision there and then. Perhaps Stephen saw the future of this company under Pablo and quit that day. We later discover Pablo told the owner he made Stephen quit because he wouldn't work more hours. Later that week Pablo went on a tirade to me about how Stephen never cared and that his somewhat messy work station proved it. He also ranted about integrity. I remained neutral to the face of Pablo regarding Stephen, however in reality I was deeply confused on how he had come to this conclusion about Stephen. For the next 2 weeks he was pseudo involved with production with most of his time being allocated to building friendships and telling his life stories. He would also change smalls things around the shop and act like he was doing the lords work. The snakes of the company, our fabrication manager and our maintaince guys quickly became his orbiters as well. My co worker Alex and I both have previous issues with both of these people so we were obviously weary of what was happening. Some time not long after that I was in the middle of a move into a new apartment. The chaotic nature of my move caused me to miss my alarm at 4:45 and to wake around 6:30. I immediately knew I f'd up and called to let Pablo know I was on my way, Pablo told me to just stay home. That day Pablo bad mouthed me to most people in the company and asked the owner if he could fire me. The owner sternly refused and dismissed the idea, since then Pablo has harbored a resentment aganist me. This resentment has taken the form of passive aggressive comments about my work and treating me like I'm an overall useless employee. I felt trapped in the situation until about 3 weeks ago when he made a big mistake. While Pablo was loading a $30000 piece of equipment to be shipped to a customer he dropped the crate off the forklift. Pablo couldn't right the crate himself so I helped him, I advised Pablo that the machine is more than likely damaged and needs to be inspected before shipment. He told me it's fine and loaded it any way. His friend the fab manager was also there. Crazy right? So obviously I report what happened to HR and an internal investigation is launched and video of the ancident is pulled from the cameras. Our Boss returns from a long trip next Monday to confront Pablo about this. In the meantime Pablo had been under the impression I havent told anyone about the incident. So without it being said Pablo no longer lectures me on integrity or micromanages me with the fear that I'll tell our owner about it. Which has obviously already happened. So I'm now free to do my job without hassle while also watching the symbolic, slow motion Torpedo closing in on Pablo's battleship. This week I've come to find that there are multiple other complaints about him and thats he's likely being fired on Monday. Its also come out that our Fabrication shop manager decharacterized Stephen to Pablo for his own gain. The fab manager is running his own business on company time and Stephen sharing an office with him was a threat. Pablo chose to make friends with the person who he thought held the most power with the company, however its about to blow up in his face. I'm happy with the way things are headed. However I think Pablo is a dangerous person that will find a way to get back at me for this, so there's some anxiety on my part as I watch this unfold. I'll do an update if I get some responses, I also know my story is a rough draft and will leave unanswered question. Please let me know your opinion on the situation and ask any questions. Thanks.

[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: Server Plugins (67):
[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: Paper Plugins:
[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: - WolfyUtilities
[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: Bukkit Plugins:
[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: - AnimatedScoreboard, AuctionHouse, AuthMe, BankPlus, BeautyQuests, BetterRTP, BlueSlimeCore, ChatItem, Chunky, Citizens
[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: CombatLogX, CrazyCrates, CSCustomBiomes, CustomStructures, DecentHolograms, DeluxeMenus, Dynmap-Towny, Essentials, EssentialsSpawn, fortunechecker
[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: InsaneAnnouncer, ItemsAdder, ItemsAdder-WorldEdit, KGenerators, LibsDisguises, LightAPI, LockettePro, LoneLibs, LPC, LuckPerms
[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: MCPets, MechanicsCore, ModelEngine, Multiverse-Core, Multiverse-NetherPortals, MythicMobs, ODailyQuests, PhatLoots, *PlaceholderAPI, PlayerKits
[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: PlayerVaults, PlayerWarps, ProtocolLib, Rankup, ShopGUIPlus, SkinsRestorer, sleep-most, Spartan, TabCompleteFilter, TabList
[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: Terra, Towny, TownyChat, TradeSystem, UltimateAirdrops, Vault, ViaBackwards, ViaVersion, VillagerTradeLimiter, Votifier
[01:55:12] [Server thread/INFO]: VotingPlugin, WeaponMechanics, WeaponMechanicsCosmetics, WorldEdit, WorldGuard, YamipaPlugin
i need help players keep travelling and they get teleported like 200 block back also /back saves the last location in this teleportation event. so they can do essentials /back to get back thats all i know

Here's a link to either AO3 or Fanfictiondotnet if you wanted to read it over there.
Chapter 18
The ornate trimmings that lined the roof of the Iris dorms came into view as the two Battleships slowly made their way up the long path from the docks.
Long shadows stretched from the old worn out street lamps merging quickly with the surrounding darkness before disappearing completely as the lights flickered to life.
Lost in a daze, a ponytail danced in Massachusetts's eyes. Its ash-blonde sheen dimly glowed, glinting off the light of the old street lamps.
Somewhere in her heart she had hoped this slope would continue on forever, that the warmth around her hand would never disappear, but stopping in front of the marbled steps of the Iris dormitory, that warmth finally retreated.
"Why're you still following me around?" Jean spoke, looking down at Massachusetts from the corner of her eye as she made her way up the steps.
The Eagle Union Battleship hadn't moved from where they parted, staring down at the ground by her feet. Part of her grew anxious, waiting with false hope that she would be invited in.
"I-!" Her voice came out louder than she had intended.
"You've had a long voyage…" Jean interrupted, her words strangely soft, "go get some rest."
"...and besides…" the former Flagship continued, scratching at the back of her head, "I've caused enough trouble for my roommate already…"
"Okay then…" Massachusetts giggled, "goodnight!"
"Hmph!" Jean turned away with a huff, "good-", she went to say back, but peaking back around, the silver haired Battleship had already run off.
"-night… I swear," Jean disparaged,scratching at the back of her head, but unbeknownst to herself, the little smile on her face betrayed any sort of foul mood.
Stepping back into her shared room, Jean looked around for any sign of her Cruiser friend. The darkness that greeted her wasn't unusual as Le Malin was usually lying about asleep most of the time anyway, either on the couch or in her room, but a quick glance only revealed an empty sofa. Peeking her head into her companion's room she found it empty, just as it was earlier today.
"I'm back…" the door to the suite swung open.
The little Cruiser hobbled into the room looking more listless than normal. Richelieu did mention she was out doing something important, but whatever it was, it looked like it took a lot out of her.
"Le Malin! Where have you-" Jean quickly held her tongue as a look of fear crossed her companion's face, "n-nevermind… forget it."
"O-okay…" Le Malin released the breath she was holding, fully expecting a dressing down of some sort. She had been hiding out all day so a level of guilt did hang over her, but it was Lady Richelieu that suggested it to begin with. Plopping herself onto the sofa, Le Malin melted into its cushion as the fatigue of consuming a few pounds of brownies slowly washed away.
"Uwaahhh~" a sudden kneading at her shoulders elicited a sudden moan. These hands felt so good~, "yeah… r-right there~"
The Cruiser's relaxation was cut short as she stretched her neck upward, her eyes meeting those of her former Flagship's staring down at her from behind the couch.
"W-wha?!"
"Relax!", Jean commanded feeling the Cruiser's shoulders tense.
'Relax!? How can I relax?!', La Malin screamed in her head, 'why is she acting like this?! First she was super pissed, now she's being super nice! What's going on?!"
Her heart and her body were in conflict, on one hand Jean's hands were absolute magic, never has a massage ever felt this good. But on the other, this was still incredibly weird. For as long as she's served under her former leader, this level of skinship was unheard of.
"What?" Jean scoffed, still feeling a level of resistance in the little Cruiser's shoulders, "you don't appreciate this?"
"N-no!" Le Malin let out quickly, "I- I mean I do! Its- It's just that this is…kinda…" the Cruiser scrambled to come up with a word, "new… for you."
The little Cruiser chuckled nervously as a silence filled the room. The kneading at her shoulders became heavier. Jean's once delicate touch now much rougher.
"Ow ow ow!" Le Malin cried, "sorry sorry!"
It was only for a brief moment, but she could've sworn she saw a smile on her former leader's face as she squirmed underneath the Battleship's strong hands.
<><><>o7<><><>
"You don't have to come with me," Brooklyn said beside herself, continuing her pace down the hall.
"I-I know, but…" Val gulped down her anxiety, "It's your fault you know!"
"Mine!?"
"You just had to blurt out I was your advisor!" Val said in a harsh whisper, "now I have to keep up appearances with your sisters."
"W-well…" Brooklyn turned away with a look of guilt, "look, it's only for a few days, once my other sisters get here I'll tell them straight up, that…"
"That-" Val parroted after Brooklyn's pause.
"That, we are…"
"Uh-huh~"
"Thatwereengaged," Brooklyn rushed in a hushed voice looking around to make sure no one heard her.
"I still don't get why we have to be so hush-hush about it," Val said with a frown, "are you embarrassed about me or something?"
"W-what?! No!" Brooklyn denied vehemently.
With her head down, the blonde Cruiser says back in a quiet tone, "I just don't want my sisters finding out through hearsay."
"Fine~" Val let out an exasperated sigh before changing the subject to their task at hand, "so anyway… What should I be doing right now? How can I be more… advisor…y?"
"Don't talk like that for one," Brooklyn listed off, "y'know what? Don't even talk, just stand there and nod."
"Am I that unconvincing?" Val says, straightening up her clothes in vain attempt to look presentable.
"On second thought," Brooklyn pinched at the bridge of her nose, "I shouldn't have brought you here, these two are…"
"Huh?"
"Remember what Biloxi said back in Panama?" Brooklyn tries to jog Val's memory, "you have to be cautious around these two, they can be a bit… touchy"
The door to the main office swung open in front of them suddenly.
"Ah! Frau Brooklyn!"
Val stood in shock with her jaw hanging open, unable to turn her eyes away from the bombshell of a woman standing by the office threshold. The smile the woman wore was almost reminiscent of St. Louis' but there was something more behind it, Val thought, like some kind of unquenchable hunger.
"Prinz Eugen," swiftly recovering from her initial shock, Brooklyn greeted back with a curt nod.
"It has been far too long," the Iron Blood Heavy Cruiser stepped past Brooklyn's extended hand before wrapping her arms around the Light Cruiser suddenly.
Val blushed as the silver haired beauty, pressed up against her fiance, her hands roaming a but too close to her posterior.
Before Val could voice some sort of protest, Brooklyn had already pushed Eugen off, keeping the Heavy Cruiser at bay with a firm hand in her face.
"Always playing so hard to get~" Eugen pouted, muffled by Brooklyn's palm.
"And your skinship is as irrepressible as ever…"
Eugen let out an accepting chuckle, finally relenting her attempts at a hug.
"Brooklyn!" Another voice from inside the office greeted, "it's always a pleasure to have you!"
"Wales," Brooklyn dipped her head once again.
"You truly are a sight for sore eyes," Wales takes the Cruiser's hand into her own, before placing her lips upon it. The glint on Brooklyn's finger not entirely lost on the Battleship.
ahem Val audibly cleared her throat.
"Oh dear~,this one appears displeased with us," Eugen held her cheek with a playful smirk, "so~ who is this tasty little morsel?"
"Valentina," Val answered with a stern voice, but even she herself couldn't tell what kind of face she was making as Eugen politely shook her hand, "Valentina Hermosa."
"Ah! So you are miss Val-" Wales went to take her hand as well but Brooklyn quickly brought her lips close to the Battleship's ear.
"If you lay a single inappropriate finger on her," Brooklyn whispers, "I'll be sure to let Hood know the goings on in this office of yours…"
A shiver shot up the royal's spine heeding the Cruiser's words. Everything finally clicked into place as she shakily took Val's hand into her own, feeling the same cold metal band around the girl's finger.
"I-it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." An abnormally stiff Wales greeted, hoping that was enough to appease the Eagle Union Diplomat.
<><><>o7<><><>
Blocking out the sun with her palm, Massachusetts continued to look up. Not at the sky above but at her hand itself. She missed the warmth that had gripped it so tightly last night.
Closing her eyes, she could still see the slender shoulders of the Vichy privateer walking out ahead. To think such a small frame held such a vast amount of power and ferocity. With her thoughts turning back to their brief but intense fight back during war, Massachusetts couldn't help but shudder at the memory of Jean's blood soaked visage, her wavering posture as she struggled to even stand, but even being on the verge of sinking, the almost savage smile that she wore stuck out most to her.
"Oof!" A familiar voice let out as it bounced backwards on the floor.
Lost in her mind, Massachusetts barely felt the impact at her chest, but looking down she found Helena rubbing at her butt after her fall.
"S-sorry!" the girl cried, "I-I wasn't looking where I was going!"
"No. It's my fault too," the Battleship helped the Cruiser off the floor.
"Thanks," the youngest Brooklyn blushed with embarrassment as she dusted herself off, "I was trying to get a list together in my head…"
"A list?"
"Yeah," Helena nodded, "I was headed to Akashi's to pick up some ingredients for Brooklyn's party."
"I can help you out if you need a hand." Massachusetts offered, seeing as how she had nothing better to do today. The Battleship couldn't help but smile to herself as she watched Helena rock her head side to side, contemplating if she should accept her offer or not.
"It'd be no big deal really," Massachusetts reassured.
"It is gonna be a lot of stuff…" Helena mulled to herself, "sure! If you don't mind."
It had been a long while since Massachusetts had been alone with the youngest Brooklyn but watching her from behind as she led the way, there was an air of confidence that wasn't there in the past. Like each step she took was infused with a level of certainty not unlike her eldest sister.
The bell over Akashi's door rang in Massachusetts's ears yet again as she followed the older Cruiser inside. She stood by the entrance watching Helena list off a bunch items at a nodding Akashi. Whatever the girl was planning seemed fairly extravagant just with the sheer amount of things she requisitioned. Massachusetts guessed it made sense, seeing as how this was the first time Helena will be seeing all her sisters in one place after a so long, she couldn't blame her for being a little excited.
"Massachusetts!" Helena called, "did you want anything while we're here?"
"Me?" The Battleship was caught off guard by the offer, "n-no its alright…"
"Aww~" the girl pouted, "I still wanna pay you back since you're helping me out'n all and we haven't seen each other in a while."
"Really I'm good so dont sweat it," Massachusetts smiled back. It wasn't a surprise to see this girl was still so concerned with ever body else and their wellbeing, it was nice to see somethings about her haven't changed.
"As the older one it's only right that I do something for you," Helena puffed out her chest in an attempt to look more authoritative to the much taller Battleship, "I'm going to be baking once I get these ingredients back, so why don't you join me in the mess hall later? I-if you aren't busy."
Helena's home made snacks? How long has it been she's had any? The thought echoed loudly in Massachusetts's head as an eager look crossed her face, "sure!"
After waiting for several minutes for Akashi and her Meowficers to return from the depths of the store, they came back carrying stacks of bags, one on top of the other.
"Sorry for the last minute request!" Helena bowed after seeing the mountain of supplies.
"Its no problem nyah! Anything for one of my best customers!" Akashi reassured.
Attempting to take the stacks of stuff into her arms, Helena starts to teeter along with the goods.
"Woah there," Massachusetts caught the Cruiser by her back, stabilizing her before taking several of the bags into her arms. "I'm here to help, remember."
"He he," Helena chuckled sticking her tongue out like she forgot.
She's still a klutz…
<><><>o7<><><>
"Don't be a stranger now~" Prinz Eugen sang into Brooklyn's ear, her goodbye hug seemed like it wouldn't end until Wales had pulled her off.
"Yes, my door will always be open to you," the royal bowed, nervous to make any sort of physical contact with her two guests, "and since you two are here on holiday, please relax and enjoy all that this base has to offer."
"Of course," Brooklyn smiled back, "I'd like to see where all the budget goes."
With that said Brooklyn and Val disappeared out the office doors leaving just the two prince's inside.
"Even when she's not working she's working," Wales chuckled, allowing herself to breathe now that Brooklyn was gone.
"Something's changed about her," Eugen said next to Wales' ear as she draped her arms over the Battleship's shoulders from behind.
"So you didn't notice it?" Wales brought her own hand up in front of herself, "the ring on their fingers."
"A ring? Oh dear…" The Iron Blood's eyes went wide, "...I fear I have to apologize to little miss Valentina when I get the chance."
"Oh~ So even you're capable of remorse," Wales said with an exaggerated look of shock.
"Hmph," Eugen pushed off the Battleship's back, making her way towards the door, "even I won't be as crass to take something someone has already claimed. Now…" Eugen placed her hand upon the door, staring at it for a bit, "if only someone here wasn't such a coward…"
"C-coward? What do you mean by that?!" Wales shot up from her seat, but her secretary had already left the room.
<><><>o7<><><>
Brooklyn craned her neck upwards, staring up at the team of Manjuu setting down the giant wooden crate she had delivered from Panama.
"So that's supposed to be a gift for Queen Elizabeth?" Val asked as the shadow of the crate passed over her.
"That's what Wales said, yeah."
"Any idea what it is?"
"Probably a statue of some sort," Brooklyn shrugged, "knowing that little Queen."
"Extravagant…"
"Quite…" the Light Cruiser disparaged the Royal Navy's callous use of funds.
With a thump, the large crate came to rest at the center of the circular path, kicking up some dust in the process.
"So this is what they had you carry?" Massachusetts said from behind the pair.
The Battleship had dozens of bags hanging of each arm as well as stacked above them, making it hard to see her face.
"That's what I was carrying," Brooklyn said back in surprise, "but what in the world is all that?!"
"Just some supplies!" Helena had poked her head around Massachusetts from behind, startling her older sister a bit.
"She was gonna carry them all herself," Massachusetts tried gesturing to the Cruiser behind her.
"I told you to let me carry some at least!" Helena pouted at the Battleship.
Brooklyn froze up for a second, as a memory of the old Helena overlayed itself into her mind. Whether or not there was an old Helena, Helena is still Helena and it wouldn't change the fact that the girl standing in front of her is her little sister.
But she wasn't expecting to run into her sister so suddenly. Of course she wanted to see her but her nerves weren't quite ready. Brooklyn did mean what she said the other day when she first saw Helena again after four long years, that she looked good. Too good for someone who could barely crack a smile at the time. Watching her banter with Massachusetts now, it's as if she hardly had any trouble at all. Helena has grown so much, and she didn't need the help of her older sister at all…
"One step at a time… remember?" A memory of Val's voice echoed in Brooklyn's mind.
If she wanted to be a part of her sister's life as she once was, it would have to begin right now. Missing this opportunity would be something she could come to regret for the rest of her life.
"H-how about this?" Brooklyn grabbed half of the stack from Massachusetts arms before distributing some to Helena and a few to Val, "we can all help carry some."
Helena pouted even further as she stomped her foot at her older sister. "Brooklyn~" she whined behind her stack, "this is supposed to be for you! So you should let us handle this."
"If that's the case," Brooklyn already started walking off, "then that's all the more reason I should be helping out."
"And besides," Brooklyn yells already a distance away, "I get to spend time with my little sister!"
"Geez~" Helena burrows her face in the bags she was carrying, the tips of her ears glowing red.
Val quietly laughed to herself, knowing Brooklyn was probably too embarrassed to say that to Helena directly.
"Brooklyn! Wait!" Helena shot her head back up.
"Uh uh!" Brooklyn refused from a distance, "I'm helping and that's that!"
"No! You're going the wrong way! Helena shouted again, "we're going to the mess hall!"
Massachusetts and Val broke out in a snicker as Brooklyn stopped in her tracks, laughing all the while as the off duty diplomat swiftly about faced, retracing her steps in a hurried fashion.
<><><>o7<><><>
"So~" Wichita said over the rhythmic clinking of whisks beating against the walls of several bowls, "Cleveland…"
"Hmm-" the Light Cruiser hummed, not looking up from what she was doing, "what's up?"
"Whatcha workin on?" Wichita poked at the blonde's cheek trying to get a reaction out of her, "Helena's got you helpin her again?"
"Helena hasn't got me doing anything," the Light Cruiser said with a huff, "I'm helping out because I want too."
"Okay okay…" Wichita backed off.
"Why are you even here?"
"Everyone's busy doing something and I'm bored."
"Then why don't you put on an apron and help me out?"
"Hahaha!" The Heavy Cruiser's boisterous laughter startled the Manjuu in the kitchen, "y'know me! I prefer eating my food to cooking it!"
"Then just go sit down and watch!" Cleveland said more than a little annoyed.
Wichita held her arms out in front of her to calm the Light Cruiser down as she did what she was told, but sitting around calmly fiddling with cooking utensils could only placate the Heavy Cruiser for so long.
"Pst… Cleveland…" a small smirk formed on Wichita's lips as she just thought of something that was for sure going to get Cleveland to react, "psstt…"
"What?!" The blonde snapped with a harsh whisper, matching the Heavy Cruiser's attempt at trying to be discreet.
Tugging at Cleveland's apron, Wichita's smirk only widened, "say~ why don't we surprise Helena?"
"And do what?"
"And by we, I mean you," the Heavy Cruiser spoke into Cleveland's ear from behind, playing with the hem of her apron, "you could try greeting her in nothing but this apron~ I'm sure that would totally make her day~"
Cleveland's brow furrowed trying to make sense of Wichita's words. Why would she greet her in nothing but an apron? Nothing… but… an apron. Nothing…
"W-w-why would I do that?!" Cleveland's face glowed a bright red finally catching on to Wichita's dirty joke.
"Hahaha! Oh man!" The Heavy Cruiser nearly doubled over in laughter, "the look on your face!"
Cleveland did her best to ignore Wichita's teasing but the bowl of cream she was working at was whisked way past its intended consistency.
"I bet Helena could pull the look off," Wichita wiggled her eyebrows at Cleveland, "she does have that rockin' body~"
No sooner she said that, the sound of a bowl clattering onto the countertop rang throughout the kitchen. Wichita's laughter had transcended past the audible seeing as how Cleveland's entire face lit up all the way to the tips of her ears like a beacon.
"W-w-what are you even saying?!" The Light Cruiser whipped the whisk in her hand at Wichita, flicking batter in her direction.
With an audible splat, the creamy batter dripped down the Heavy Cruiser's face.
"Oh~ you've done it now!" The chocolate covered lids of Wichita's eyes slowly cracked open. Scooping what she could in her hands, the Heavy Cruiser slung it straight back at a still flustered Cleveland.
Before long the Manjuu in the kitchen scrambled out for the sake of their own safety.
<><><>o7<><><>
The mess hall should have stayed the same as Helena left it, quiet and calm. With the busy chatter and commotion that came during lunch still a few hours away. But the panicked Manjuu huddling near the entrance to the kitchen and the loud clattering coming from within betrayed any sense of tranquility.
"What's going on?" Val had asked Helena who had been beside her the whole time, but when she turned her head, a gust of wind had blown in her eyes and the Light Cruiser was gone.
Val's eyes darted around, spotting Helena already by the kitchen's entrance. There was a good seven ~ eight meters from where they first entered and she couldn't recall Helena even moving in the first place.
"Ya can't hit me throwing like that!" A familiar voice can be heard yelling inside.
"Wichita…" Brooklyn shook her head, watching helplessly as Helena slammed the kitchen doors wide open.
The two sole occupants inside turned towards the door in shock. The heavy overwhelming pressure radiating from the kitchen's entrance freezing them in place.
"Y-yo~ H-Helena!" The hand full of chocolate batter had dripped off Wichita's fingers. The audible splat it made filled the silence that fell over the mess hall.
"I-I was just h-helpin out… y'know…" The color from Wichita's face had drained, stuttering her words as she forgot how to breathe.
"T-take it easy n-now…" the redhead tried to back away as Helena slowly approached, but her feet wouldn't budge.
"I-I'll help you guys clean up!" The Heavy Cruiser's voice sounded almost desperate as Helena closed the distance.
"W-wait! T-think about this!"
That was the last everyone heard from Wichita's mouth as a loud thud echoed from the kitchen.
Brooklyn and Massachusetts winced as Helena emerged back out, dragging an unconscious Wichita by her collar out of the kitchen.
"Looks like I have a little cleaning to do before we start," Helena sighed, dragging Wichita to a nearby wall, letting the Heavy Cruiser's body slump to the ground after letting go.
<><><>o7<><><>
Cleveland counted herself lucky she didn't end up like Wichita. For a second there, she thought, that she too was done for. Closing her eyes bracing for a knockout, all she got was a towel to the face as Helena tried to clean the mess that she found herself coated in.
"Geez~" Helena frowned at the blonde, "it's my fault for leaving you guys alone."
"N-no!" Cleveland let out, "it's my fau-"
"It's fine~" Helena giggled as she wiped a glob of chocolate batter off of the blonde's nose, "Just help me clean up!"
Cleveland's face grew a little red as she watched Helena lick her fingers clean.
"Mhmm~!" Helena beamed, "that's really good!"
"I-I was only following the recipe on the note…"
"Dunkerque really knows her stuff…" Helena rubbed at her chin as she tried to analyze the flavor in her mouth.
"Dunkerque?" Brooklyn asked as she plopped down the supplies on a clean spot on the counter, "I didn't realize she was at the Joint Base."
"No. She's not," Helena shook her head, "Richelieu gave me one of her recipes."
"That's rare…" Brooklyn said to herself, knowing that Battleship wasn't known to just hand out her treasured recipes so easily, "so what's the occasion?"
"It's probably not much of a secret, but…" Helena furrowed her brow deliberating whether or not she should say or not.
"It's fine~ whatever you say won't leave this room," Brooklyn smiled before turning to the other girls in the room for confirmation, "right girls?"
Val and Massachusetts both nod.
"They're for someone's launchday," Helena, still reluctant to give up all the info.
"Intel is power," Brooklyn held up her finger, "so if you've got some to share…"
"But…" saying it would be like betraying Richelieu's trust.
"Jean Bart…" Massachusetts spoke, coming to a sudden realization.
"H-how'd you know?!" Helena panicked.
"I-" the Battleship blushed, "I just happened to remember… just now…"
"Oh ho~" Brooklyn and Val shot a knowing look towards Massachusetts simultaneously.
"She's that girl you were with last night," Val said, "hand in hand…"
"Oh ho~" Brooklyn said louder in surprise, "you work fast."
"I-I was just walking her back to the dorms…" the normally aloof Battleship fidgeted in place staring a hole in the ground by her feet.
"I didn't know you guys were friends?" Helena asked, "but that's great! You could help us bake some Pain au Chocolat for her if you want."
"Y-yes!" Massachusetts agreed a little more enthusiastically than intended.
"I could help out too if you don't mind," Val raised her hand, "if you don't mind an extra hand in the kitchen."
"Sure! I didn't really want to bother anyone else but we do have a lot to prep for."
"Val is one of the best cooks I know~" Brooklyn vouched.
"Is that right?!" Helena enthused, happy to meet someone else who knows their way around the kitchen.
"Well~" Val chuckled, not used to the attention she was receiving, "I'm definitely better than your sister here."
"That's not saying much…" Massachusetts laughed.
Cleveland couldn't bring herself to join in on the conversation seeing as how she was largely responsible for the mess they currently cleaning. And now that they had to start from scratch that feeling just compounded itself.
"Hey Helena," Brooklyn called, "where do you keep the extra aprons?"
Aprons, Cleveland blushed, cursing Wichita for putting weird thoughts in her head. The younger Cruiser's cheeks darkened even further not even realizing she was staring at Helena as she carefully hung her apron around her neck. Watching intently as she deftly tied the knot behind her back, before pulling her long and beautiful hair out from underneath. The air in Cleveland's lungs grew thin, watching in slow motion as Helena's hair fell back down, like some kind of swan decending upon a lake, framing her body like an exquisite portrait.
Cleveland wasn't blind, she was always aware just how beautiful her best friend is but she always tried to push it into the back of her mind. An act she was almost always successful at, but Wichita's recent words did wonders to destroy that. The Brooklyn sister's uniforms were quite the sight to behold and Helena's was no exception. Cleveland thought she was used to it by now, given how often the two were together, but she was finding it difficult to pull her eyes away from her best friend's figure.
"Clevie?" Helena said a little worried, "what's wrong? Your face is all red."
"N-nothings wrong!" The shorter blonde let out a nervous laugh, "Just Wichita putting weird thoughts in my head!"
"Great… what'd she say this time?" Helena said, all too familiar with the Heavy Cruiser's antics.
Cleveland would sooner scuttle herself than reveal the whole truth of what Wichita said, "It's… just forget I said anything…"
"Alright…" Helena pouted, a little disappointed Cleveland wouldn't tell her.
<><><>o7<><><>
With the clean up done, the girls were finally able to start their prep work. With each of them in their own little station responsible for each step of the process.
Val stared at the little note Helena had shown her committing the directions listed to memory. It was a shame she couldn't tell anyone else about this apparent super secret recipe but she figured it wouldn't be a problem if she used it for herself every now and again.
Helena and Val moved about the kitchen like some kind of synchronized, well oiled machine, stunning the rest of the girls as they struggled to keep up the pace.
Brooklyn was always fascinated with the way her sister and fiance worked, but seeing them both at it together all at once was something else.
Cleveland at the best of times could barely keep up with Helena when she was in the zone, but now, with Val involved, there was absolutely no hope.
Massachusetts was off in her own little corner making almost as much of a mess as Wichita did, whisking her bowl with a little too much force.
The team of Manjuu worked like an assembly line, rolling the dough that would become the pastries base.
"Hey Helena," Val called to her newly found cooking partner, "you think you could give Brook a hand? She looks a little confused as to what to do next."
"Brooklyn?" Helena turned to her sister who had just begun pouring the molten chocolate into each mold.
"W-what? I'm good," Brooklyn answered back, slightly confused as to what Val was doing," I don't ne-"
"-Here like this," Helena cut in, guiding her sister's hand as she helped to evenly pour the chocolate.
Val smiled to herself, knowing her fiance didn't really need help, and if she did she herself could step in lend a hand, but if she could engineer a way to get Brooklyn to spend some quality time with her sister she would take any opportunity she saw.
<><><>o7<><><>
Denver and Colombia could barely contain a snicker as a red faced Wichita sat down on the floor with her arms and legs crossed, still coated in a fine layer of chocolate, doing her best to ignore the two Light Cruisers.
"For a second, we thought you just came from the Iron Blood dorms, pfftt" Colombia broke out into laughter.
"Oh, its only chocolate…" Denver said in relief as she swiped some from the Heavy Cruiser's face.
"What the hell did you think it was?!" Wichita lost her temper as the two ran for cover inside the kitchen.

You’ve got 5k. You’ve got a battered 2v with over 200k miles. You’d like to make 500-750 reliably without putting too much stress on the motor after aspiration, tune, and a nos kit. Do you… -Take out the 2v, and build and buff every component in it, eventually buying aspiration. -Find a crate/junk 4v (if so, is non cobra okay?) and build that up. -Try and find a coyote to swap in. -something else? $5000 before aspiration is my budget. Knowledgeable around the engine bay, but haven’t fully built an engine yet. I’d like to get the engine to put out a comfortable 500hp. Obviously after I’ll swap other stuff after the engine. But what is my best option for that. Ford V8 buff and build for $5k.

Previous
Captain Vohr’Doe was waiting in the hangar as Kahv’Hosh set the shuttle down, a slew of emotions raging inside her, all vying to be the leading sentiment. Though, she - of course - would probably have to lean more towards 'gratitude’, if made to pick a single one. She was more than grateful that her crew were no longer in danger - and yes, that even included him - and that those pirates were no longer a threat to anyone else, either.
And then there was the obvious awe at the humans had weaponized gravity; she had heard the horror stories of what could happen if a gravity plate malfunctioned - she had to have electrical replace the ones in the gym just a few days ago, as Kyle had pushed them up to 15G in his training - but to actually use it as a weapon?...
And, of course, there was an overwhelming amount of anger. Well, maybe not anger, per se; but there wasn’t really a word for the feeling between extreme frustration, and anger. What kept her from completely registering it as anger was her wholehearted belief that he had good intentions for having something so destructive on board her ship. But that only just tempered the vexation she felt at him having smuggled a gravity bomb onto her ship! Not only that, but there were two crates that had been marked as ‘gravity generators’, which she had initially assumed were for his comfort, to put his room - or possibly his campsite - to a more comfortable gravity. But she could see now how very wrong she was.
As the door to the shuttle opened, she watched first Admiral Shane, then Kahv’Hosh exit the craft. Kyle exited after a delay of a few seconds, and after sweeping the hangar with his gaze, he lowered it when it met her’s, looking for all intents like her nephew when he gets caught doing something he shouldn’t, and - not for the first time - an almost motherly feeling came over her. Which wasn’t so far out of the question, seeing as - according to the data provided on them - humans were by far the shortest-lived people in Galactic Records, where the shortest-lived species after them - the rahv’oyeck - averaged around 500 years, give or take a few decades.
Not to mention the fact that - for however short a time, he was a part of her crew, and as such, she instinctively felt protective of him, the fact that - as his captain - she was responsible for him notwithstanding. Plus, he really did seem to be almost ‘childlike’ at times, with a simple - almost naive - attitude towards the goings on around him. Not that he was clueless when it came to interacting with others; as many of the crew had come to find out, apparently.
But it was his obvious contrition that tempered her attitude, so that when they had made their way over to her, it had simmered down to intense irritation. Once they were standing before her, Kyle finally looked up to meet her gaze, and she felt her heart soften further at the expression on his face; not that she would let him know that, of course.
“Would you care to explain yourself, Mr. Redding?” she asked, being sure to keep the edge to her voice; she couldn't be seen as ‘soft’.
“I didn't know that they were sending it,” he began quickly, ”I only found out about it after I got to my equipment room, the first time.”
“Them,” she replied, and at his confused look, continued,
“Them; plural: there were two crates listed under ‘gravity generators’, and they were both the same size. I don't believe that the other one actually contains gravity plates stacked up; not this time.”
Kyle gave a look of understanding, and she believed that he really did momentarily forget about the other one.
“Right,” he said, “Two. Yeah, I didn't know they were gonna send them…”
“And afterward, it never occurred to you to tell me that you had two bombs on board that could make this entire ship - and everyone on board - become one dense atom?!” A little more edge crept into her voice than she would have liked at that moment. It was Admiral Shane, however, who answered; taking a step forward, he cleared his throat.
“Captain, if I may?...” It was the respect - the deference - in his voice that gave her pause, and helped to calm her thoughts a bit. She nodded in affirmation, and he continued,
“What would happen to us - in the immediate sense - if this ship were to lose all power right now; primary, and emergency backup power?”
The question seemed so random, that her mind basically blanked out, and she found herself saying the first thing that came to her mind.
“We would all begin floating, seeing as the artificial gravity would be out, as well.”
“Precisely,” he continued, “And short of directly supplying power to the artificial gravity, how could we get the plates to work?”
She began to understand his point.
“I see where this is going, Admiral, but unless I’m very much mistaken, there were no ports on that box that would accept any power crystals with the required energy to fuel that miniature black hole. Which means that it had power the whole time.”
“That's true,” he said in a mollifying tone, “But the power to the core was disconnected, and needed a code that would cause even an A.I. trouble hacking it, as it's a 300,000-page code, randomly coded in every written language known to humankind. There are even symbols in the code that don't show up on the screen, if someone were to try to hack it manually; an A.I. is needed to even crack the code within a year. And only Kay’Eighty has the codes for those two programmed into her memory.
“So,” he concluded, “While I agree entirely with you that he should have let you know about them, I can give you my word - on behalf of the honor of all humans - that no amount of damage could cause an accidental activation. While I won't say that the other one is harmless, I can assure you that there is no chance of it going off by accident. However, I won’t hesitate to take it off of your ship, if you so desire.”
She took a moment to digest everything that Admiral Shane said, and eventually came to a conclusion.
“No, I’ll allow him to keep it on the ship; I would say that there's likely never going to be a reason that we would need it, but I would have said the same thing this morning, and we can all see how wrong that was.”
“If you like,” Kyle offered, “We could attach it to like, a missile, or something, and Kay’Eighty could give you a data chip with the code for it.”
She thought for a few seconds, then nodded.
“That sounds acceptable; but what if we need it detached?”
“She can attach it to the outside on a molecular level with her nanobots, and detach it the same way.”
She nodded her head, and then sighed.
“Well, I won't pretend that I’m not happy about the way this all played out; still, I’m just glad their cargo holds and brigs showed no signs of life. At least we didn't send any innocents to their doom with that ploy. You could have at least told me what it was when I asked you why you needed the scan of the pirate ships in the first place.”
“Yeah,” he replied in that casual tone of voice that she would tolerate from few others, further enforcing that matronly feeling over him, “But we didn't have time for you to be pissed off at me, then… But - for the record - I am sorry for not telling you; I should have let you know a lot sooner.”
She gave him the sternest look she could muster in that moment, and replied,
“I’ll accept your apology if - and only if - you let me examine this fruit tree of yours.”
Kyle's face brightened, and a wide smile appeared as he said,
“Of course; you could've come seen it any time.”
She smiled at him, and turned to leave, passing Kah’Ri, who had held back - as per her request - while she talked to Kyle about the heavy ordnance he had on her ship. She heard the impact of the two, and the sound of them kissing, that was immediately mixed with the sound of hurried footsteps as Kahv’Hosh and Admiral Shane gave the two their privacy.
The meeting with the Council went smoother than she could have expected, with them simply stating that - as a interstellar ambassador - Kyle was authorized for a higher level of weaponry utilized in his protection, and as his current ship of transport, the Golden Egg had the authorization to use such weapons, if need be. They did - however - require any and all recordings of the interaction to be sent to the Council, for analysis of their capabilities.
There was also the matter of Grol’Rosh, the suul’mahr representative who had watched the probe’s descent into the dark of the planet below. The doctors felt that it was best to keep him in a medically induced coma, as when he was conscious - and heavily restrained - he was moaning and whimpering, rambling incoherently about the ‘darkness that sees, hiding the sea of flesh’, of ‘clawed feet on chitinous arms, too-long hands reaching from fanged tentacles’; and the sound, which he mentioned as the ‘screams of the damned from so many mouths, they know all, 'THEY ARE THE HOLES LIKE EYES!!!’
She noted the looks that ranged form disquiet, to disgust, but it was between the humans that she saw a look of understanding horror pass.
“But…” Kyle began weakly, looking at Admiral Shane, “That was just a movie. Wha-…?”
“Well,” the Admiral replied in a slightly dazed voice, “I think it’s safe to say that blowing the planet up is out of the question.”
“Or what?” Kyle began in amused incredulity, “A piece of it’s gonna hit a wormhole, and go back in time to Alaska sometime before the 1980’s?” The laugh he ended this with was close to hysterical, to which the Admiral shrugged.
“At this point, I wouldn’t rule anything out. However, the more likely scenario would be that it lands on a different planet, wreaksand havoc from there. Even worse would be for it to hit a previously uncontacted, sapient species’ home world. The results of a single cell of this… thing’s biomass were to make it to a planet with living creatures on it would be beyond catastrophic. There’s no amount of destruction - short of throwing it into a star, or a black hole - that I would trust the safety of the galaxy to, when it comes to the lifeform that calls this planet its home.”
Chairwoman Hahss’Chom spoke up at this.
“While I obviously have no knowledge of this movie the two of you reference, I must say that your assessments of this seem to be at least plausible. I don’t know so much about the time travel aspect, but it would seem that this would be the best summary of the events, here. It would appear that a sapient race evolved on this planet, and that their Gift was that of assimilation. At some point, it would seem they began assimilating each other, until they reached a critical mass, and ‘they’ became ‘it’. And from Grol’Rosh’s description, it doesn’t sound as if this is a pleasant experience for whatever they… it has become. I believe that it is not only a matter of protection for the wider galaxy - universe, even - but also as an act of mercy that we should put this… thing out of its misery.” There was a general murmur of agreement around the council chambers as no one seemed to want to disagree with that sentiment.
They moved the Golden Egg to the other side of the system from the planet, keeping the sun between it and them. Upon hearing about the ‘darkness that sees’, Kyle had exclaimed that that was what had bothered him so much about the planet; the darkness was watching them. They didn’t want to find out if the life form on the planet may be able to ‘stack’ itself ‘up’, away from the planet, and reach out to the ship were they to get over the dark side, but at the same time, no one wanted to be under the gaze of such a massive predator.
They were parked in that system for almost an entire Standard week, though, it should have been longer; however, with their A.I. able to make the calculations for them, they were able to drop further into subspace, where not only do the ‘shadows’ become larger - therefore reducing the ‘space’ needed to travel - but the speed of your craft rose exponentially, so it was extremely easy to overshoot one’s target, going a ‘shorter’ distance at a greatly multiplied speed.
The moon/ship was amazing to behold. It had - originally - had an outer layer of ice, with an inner ocean, and a deeper ice layer, followed by a rocky mantle, and heavy iron core. The humans - but really, the A.I. - had mined out the iron core, and used it in building the outer shell of the craft. The water was harvested - according to their records - and support columns on the inside were used to maintain integrity of the craft. It now appeared for all intents and purposes as a giant metal moon, with engines on one end, and millions of lights that dotted its surface, obviously viewports. A close-up scan showed that it was blanketed in guns, but those were obviously only big enough to serve as defense; it was apparent that this ship wasn’t built as a gunner.
Once it had come into the system - keeping out of ‘view’ from its dark side - they enveloped the planet with the craft’s tractor beam, the space around the planet lighting up to an almost gray aura, as the beam took hold. Once they had reported a full grip of the planet, the Europa Contingency dropped back into subspace, the planet ‘disappearing’ with them, only to ‘reappear’ around an hour later, the ship’s massive engines working more efficiently in subspace to move the much larger planet. Once they reappeared, the light around the planet went out as the Europa Contingency released it from the tractor beam, dropping back into subspace for an easier retreat from the sun.
No one wanted to go to look at what was happening to the planet, which would entail either getting into its range of ‘vision’, and also the possibility of seeing whatever it was that drove the suul’mahr representative insane. Readings showed the loss of mass, as the planet was burnt up in the corona of the star, and everyone watched on as the sun continued to consume its wayward planet. With the planet also having been thrown - not simply having 'fallen' - into the sun, it wasn’t long before it had been fully encased in the cleansing fires of the star.
She was also relieved to see that the humans had appropriately somber expressions, obviously taking no joy in the destruction - the mass loss of… ‘life’ - that they were responsible for. They watched the reading coming in with the seriousness of attending a loved one’s funeral, and never spoke a word, not in praise, or even the acknowledgement of what was happening. She was glad to see that they weren’t entirely aggressive, that while they had the capacity to not only think of these types of weapons, but to also create them, that they weren’t the type of people who would use them so willingly. She could see in their faces the regret they had in destroying this planet, even as it was done to save countless others; for someone would eventually break quarantine, either to try to exploit the resources ‘available’, or to use the ‘lifeform’ on the planet for their own twisted ploys. And so this was a necessary evil; though they were empathetic enough to realize it for the evil that it was.
After they had witnessed the destruction of the planet, the Admirals insisted on escorting the Golden Egg to Captala’Ellats, the space station that was the next stop on their itinerary. Not having any reason to refuse a military escort, Captain Vohr’Doe graciously accepted, and they were soon on their way; this had certainly earned a bit of a reprieve for her crew, and she wouldn’t say no to a bit of shore leave, herself.

The time it took to travel between that system, and the station went by fairly quickly for Kyle. He’d been alone most of his life, with little to no friends, so to have a group of friends now - who actually wanted to spend time with him, who would seek him out to do so - brought him to a new high that he had never acquired in his memory. But having acquired a girlfriend - one who came from a people whose culture emphasized affection - brought him to a level of bliss that he didn’t think was possible. Kah’Ri had taken to spending her nights in his room, as the only real difference between general, and officer’s quarters was a bigger gym, that also served as a bit of a lounge for the officers.
He had - of course - applied for shore leave, and it had been immediately approved. Kah’Ri had also applied, and likewise was approved immediately; she had apparently never really gone on shore leave that much, only ever going at certain spots that were closer to any drahk’mihn colonies they happened to go near, or similar space stations. They had opted to get a hotel separate from the one that the Captain would be hiring to room the crew, as staying in the same hotel as the rest of the crew on the same space station would be little different than being on the ship. Zeck’Tish had recommended her cousin’s hotel, stating that he could use the business. Not that he was failing - Captala’Ellats was a major space station along the trading lanes - but with the divide between insectoid, and vertebrate species, he didn’t get as much business as others might. Of course the insectoid races all patronized his hotel, but with the insectoid species making up only about a third of all known species in the Federation, that wasn’t as much business as one might like.
And so he was currently on a call with Kohr’Sahr and Kahs’Hahn, having invited them to meet up a few days prior.
“... and so we’ll have to stop by the Council Headquarters to give our testimony of our time spent with you,” Kahs’Hahn was saying through Kohr’Sahr, “But we should be able to meet up tomorrow; we’ll send you a message when we arrive on-station, and we’ll go from there.”
“Sounds good,” Kyle said, just as he heard the door open; he’d given Kah’Ri the authorization to unlock his bedroom door without her security card, and she’d authorized him for her’s, in turn, “We’ll see you, then.”
“We?” Kohr’Sahr asked - he had long since learned to tell the difference between their slight accents when talking.
Kyle turned to Kah’Ri, smiling as he put his arm around her waist, and she slipped her tail around his, while wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He noticed her eyes widen slightly as she saw who was on screen, and he looked in time to see Kohr’Sahr’s eyes also widen in shock. He opened his mouth slightly, and Kyle noticed the barely perceptible shake of Kah’Ri’s head. Kohr’Sahr then cleared his throat, and said,
“Well… it seems as if we made quite the impact on you, eh Kyle?” ending in an awkward chuckle.
“Well,” he continued, “I don’t want to keep you from packing; Kyle, we’ll talk later. It was nice meeting you,” he added to Kah’Ri, and before either of them could reply, he cut the call short. Kah’Ri gave a soft sigh, then turned to walk to the bag she’d left on the floor by the ‘wall’ in front of the door.
“Come on,” she said, “We’ve docked with the station, and it’s time for us to go.”
Grabbing his own bag from the bed, he followed after her, locking his door behind them, and slipping his arm back around her waist.
“Did you know him?” he asked as they made their way to the elevators; she sighed lightly, but answered with a simple,
“No.”
“Well,” he pressed gently, “He seemed to know you… What are you, like, a runaway princess, or something?” While he finished with a light chuckle, Kah’Ri gave another slight sigh, and stopped walking. Kyle looked at her, feeling a growing sense of unease.
“Holy shit,” he said as she remained silent, “Are you?!”
She closed her eyes for a second, then turned to look into his eyes.
“I promise,” she said, and he was absorbed by the genuine care in her gaze, “I’ll tell you everything; but not right now. Later, when it’s just you and me, I promise I’ll tell you the truth.”
He looked into her eyes for a second, seeing the tears that wanted to come, and simply reached out, putting his hand on her cheek, and drawing her in for a kiss. As they separated, he gave her a small wink, and said,
“C’mon, let’s go see this station.” She gave him a shy smile, and they set off again.
After they’d been checked out by one of the other security chiefs, they were met by a crowd of their crew mates, all of whom were milling about outside the ship. They were soon informed why, as the Captain came up to them and informed them that the Federation Council was conducting interviews with a number of the crew, most notably those who’d had contact with Kyle; they would be conducted by the Council Representative for their people. Kyle also had an interview scheduled, though his would be with the suun’mahs Representative, in a mirror reason for the interviews of the rest of the crew: where the crew was obviously being interviewed to see how the newest species fit in from their point of view, he would be interviewed to see how other humans might react to the Federation, along with a chance to voice any grievances of his own.
Soon enough, they had all been contacted by their respective Representatives, and led off into separate rooms. Kyle was glad to see that this wasn’t an interrogation room, again, looking more like a general conference room. The suun’mahs who was to be interviewing him was male, and hadn’t seemed taken aback by the presence of Cheshire, indicating that while he may - or may not - have known about Cheshire himself, the human drive to turn predators into traveling companions was nothing new to him.
“Well, Ambassador Redding, this shouldn’t take too long; a few questions about your time in the Federation, so far, and then we can have you out of here, and enjoying your time off.”
“Thank you,” he replied, “And please, call me Kyle.”
Representative Ran’Teek smiled as he put what Kyle recognized as a holocamera on the table.
“Of course,” he stated, “You don’t mind if I record this, do you?”
“Of course not,” Kyle responded.
The questioning indeed didn’t take very long, barely even ten minutes worth of explanation, while other parts he was able to supply with a simple transfer of video data. Kay’Eighty made her appearance for that, and Representative Ran’Teek had a few questions for her, as well. Mostly about what she may need for the A.I. to be properly accommodated in the Federation, though he was obviously in untrodden ground, on that topic. Soon enough, they were done, and had exited the room.
“Well, Kyle,” Representative Ran’Teek stated as they made their way to the ‘streets’ of the station, “I guess this is where we part ways; unless you’d like for me to show you around? I still have quite a bit of time before our ship leaves, and it would be my pleasure to show you a few sights.”
Kyle checked the time on his wrist, and seeing that he also had no message from Kah’Ri telling him she was done, he could see no reason to refuse.
“Sure,” he replied, smiling, “That would be great.”
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“This is crazy.” Souryuu grumbles under her breath.
She’s got one hand on the Delta S4’s wheel, the other on the shifter as she’s flooring it. The trail ahead, originally an outcrop of rocks, scrub and gravel is now a virtual sea of people, with spectators literally spilling over on to the track itself. There had been four cars in the starting queue: Akagi and Shoukaku’s comparatively sleek Lancia 037 at the start of the line, Souryuu and Hiryuu’s Lancia Delta S4 in second, along with an Audi Quattro in third, piloted by the Ironblood’s finest – Graf Zeppelin and Peter Strasser. The final car in the queue was a bright white Peugeot 205, with the Vichyan contingent consisting of Jean Bart and Foch.
Even with her focus fixed on the road ahead, Souryuu can see them waving, cheering, and even more disturbingly, some were reaching out as if trying to play tag with the Delta as it streaks by.
“Hard left, 30… unbelievable!” Even Hiryuu’s distracted by the spectacle – until an admonishment from Souryuu makes her look back down on the pace notes. Behind the wheel, Souryuu feels like she’s Moses parting the Red Sea at exactly 110 kilometers an hour as the crowd scatters like cockroaches under lights, just barely in time for the car to slide past.
Oh the irony, Souryuu thinks. Her fellow drivers, her sister and herself had spent the previous decades of their lives protecting humanity from the Sirens, yet now in this era where the factions of old have moved on from the Siren threat to fight each other on the track with gasoline, tires and clenched teeth instead of riggings, cannons and bombs, two of humanity’s finest are now trying their damnedest not to lose control of this pocket rocket of a rally car and plow into the humans lining the track.
Yet despite having spent years away from combat and sparring, her reflexes are sharp as ever, both arms crossed in full opposite lock as she swings the car around, missing an overly-intrepid spectator who leaps out of the way at the very last millisecond. Each rattle and bump is already unnerving enough, especially in a section as packed with people as this one. Souryuu chooses to ignore the bumping noises. Hopefully those are rocks she’s hitting and not something else entirely.
She grits her teeth, keeping her focus on the wheel. Her senses at this point are already sharper than the edge of the tanto dagger she often carried into combat in the old days alongside her katana, both now half a world away in Yokohama.
“Ah kuso!”
Souryuu hears a muffled thunk – a sign she’s clipped something as the Delta S4 straightens itself out. She takes a quick glance in the mirror, spotting a figure in the dust dropping to their knees to pick up the remains of something, most definitely a TV camera, attached to a now-snapped tripod, which undoubtedly left a big dent in the car’s composite bodywork, just out of view of both driver and co-driver
“Long, easy right. 50. Who the hell did we hit?” Hiryuu raises an eyebrow, glancing in the direction of the sound.
“Someone’s recording gear.” Souryuu deadpans.
Hiryuu can’t help breaking into an amused chuckle after as for a second, the mental image of a TV reporter struggling to recover something actually useable from what’s left of the tapes in their mangled camera flashes across her mind’s eye.
“Foolhardy bastard deserved that one.” And just as quickly, Hiryuu switches gears back into co-driver mode. “Straight, 500 then hard left, 200 after. Straight on to finish! Go! Go! Go!”
Out of the turns and into the final stretch, full throttle upon exit. Yet the sight of a car approaching at breakneck speeds while trailing ochre dust behind it does little to deter the people on the track with only inches of air seperating them from the speeding Delta S4.
“Oh kami, I can’t even see the finish…” Out of reflex, Souryuu flashes the car’s headlights, which does little to make the crowd scatter any faster – until the boards with chequered flags come into view suddenly. And then Souryuu goes through the motions of lifting off the gas then slow down to a crawl.
Souryuu and Hiryuu collectively draw in a deep breath, right as the car comes to a halt and then Souryuu flips the engine’s kill-switch.
Both sisters share a look of relief. Relief that the madness is over, for now. Souryuu shakes her head.
“That should never have been allowed to run.”
-
It’s nightfall when Souryuu visits the huge tent that served as a makeshift garage for the Lancia team.
Separated from both her Delta S4 and Akagi’s 037 by security tape and six feet of distance, Souryuu can only really watch the team mechanics swarm over both cars with spanners and mallets under the bright white glow of floodlights, pounding dented panels back into shape and dismantling the engines for rebuilding while the muffled popping and rattling of a generator resonates in the distance.
This isn’t the first instance where Souryuu’s final stage time has lagged behind that of Akagi’s yet it never fails to sting every time despite their 1-2 finish for the team. The close calls from earlier in the day, in the sea of people on the ending half of the stage only really serves to rub salt in the wound.
It’s a natural reaction to want to reflect on the events of that day, to think that just maybe if the track was clear, all those precious seconds wasted trying to avoid running people over would have kept her stage time above that of Akagi’s. And more importantly, she wouldn’t be feeling such an odd sense of anxiety, wondering just what kinds of horrors would have happened if she went just that little bit too fast or went just an inch too wide in the final turns.
But there’s little point in dwelling over what could have been or the various what-ifs, Souryuu tells herself. At least the fact that her team is still leading by points is comfort enough.
Just next to the Lancia tent is that of the Audi team’s. Mechanics are all over the front of Zeppelin and Strasser’s Quattro, hauling out its engine which was almost literally bleeding oil from half a dozen gaskets.
And as Souryuu passes the Peugeot tent, what catches her eye is the gruesome sight of a long, thin trail of blood running along the outside of the starboard intake behind the driver’s door. A mechanic is bent over the cooler at the end of the intake, shaking their head before removing something off the cooler face with gloved hands and placing whatever grisly thing it was into a black plastic bag.
Souryuu looks away. Brushing aside her curiosity, she makes her way to what passed as the ‘common area’ for drivers, which was pretty much a collection of crates and footlockers arranged around a lantern that lit up the immediate area in a pale yellow glow.
Someone thrusts an amber colored bottle into her hand with the cap already popped off. Souryuu looks up, right into the eyes of Hiryuu, who’s also got her own bottle, as did half the other drivers surrounding them. Souryuu’s never really liked beer but tonight she’ll make an exception. She needs a drink, as much as the others do, if not more.
No one raises their bottle, no one toasts. It’s just silence along with the distant sounds of ratchets and impact wrenches from the bigger tents. At least until one of the drivers speaks up.
“To think we went from protecting humanity just decades ago to threading the needle around these fools without running them over… there’s a reason I never wanted to join Rally de Portugal in the first place.” Akagi mutters, pinching the bridge of her nose as she’s grimacing. “We may be in the lead now but something will happen at some point. And it will not end well.”
“If only Lancia didn’t make us come. Portugal’s the last place I’d rather race at. Just… those people on the sides of the track and in the middle…”
The Sakuran contingent turns to look at Shoukaku with varying degrees of surprise as this is the first time in memory anyone’s actually seen and heard her agree with Akagi, of all people.
“Only the gods know how many people we came close to mowing down earlier today.” Souryuu is the next to speak up. “Today it was a TV camera. Tomorrow? Who knows.”
“Still better than taking someone’s fingers off…”
And now the spotlight is on Jean Bart. So that’s what the Peugeot team mechanics found…
“As we all know, the intake lips on our Peugeots are sharp as hell. Me and Foch, we were right in the middle of the track! We never went wide or short but they just kept trying to touch the car as we went past and that was it…” Jean Bart groans before downing her entire bottle in a few long chugs.
“Algerie’s brought this up with the bigwigs at Azur Lane and the FIA over and over yet they don’t seem to want to do anything about it.”
“Even if they wanted to, they can’t.” Souryuu sighs as she adjusts her glasses on the bridge of her nose. “With how long the stages are, crowd control is next to impossible.”
The memory of a police helicopter swooping down to buzz the spectators on another stage a few days earlier comes to mind. The fans had scattered – then promptly went back to spilling over on to the track once the helicopter retreated.
“If you all think Portugal is enough of a madhouse as it is, just wait till you get to Catalunya and Acropolis.” Graf Zeppelin chimes in next, punctuating her words with a derisive chuckle. “These people… to me and Strasser, they are bushes to us – only trees. If one thinks of them as people, one cannot drive. Not in Portugal, not in Acropolis and especially not in Catalunya. Though the madness does stop once you’re in Monte Carlo. San Remo and Corsica are especially smoother sailing from then on.”
“You’re awfully optimistic.” Akagi says, cutting in with a tone that pretty much dripped with sarcasm.
“I am just being pragmatic.” Zeppelin says with a shrug. “If you’ve been rallying for as long as I have…”

(Decided to carry on writing my motorsports AUs for Azur Lane and this is the result. Inspired by the Group B era of rallying in all of its sheer madness.)
AO3

So I'm totally clueless with all things car related. I have a kia soul 2017 and I'm told that it's a GSI engine and I need frequent oil changes. I want to top it off between oil changes to extend the life a bit and the brand they use at take 5 is Duramax FS XLT HM 520 BK. I can't seem to find this exact one. If I use the Mobil 1 Advanced Full Synthetic Motor Oil 5W-20 am I going to mess up my engine? I go for top offs at take 5 but they only do up to 3 thousand miles and I just need to top off a little to get to my next oil change at 5 thousand miles. I go every 1000. My car has been checked for leaks and I got new spark plugs and coolant exchange to help the engine issue. The general consensus is that these engine sucks. My car is also higher mileage. Sorry if this is a dumb question. TIA

Hello! Welcome to Season 4 of Glyph RP's new Campaign. NEW SEASON LAUNCH SATURDAY, JUNE 10TH AT 6:00PM EST!
Looking for a new server to call home? Well Look no further! New to RP? No problem! This is a perfect server to start honing your newfound love. Enjoy a refreshing, immersive and unique experience that caters to almost all RP styles while allowing you to curate your character to your desires.

What do we bring to the table?

Ark is considered one of the best sandbox games full of so much potential. We wanted to tap into that potential and provide an experience to help you get away from it all. We realize that ARK is a game where people come to have fun after a long day of work/school so we drive to make it a fun experience for everyone. Our server is ultimately for an immersive experience full of RP potential and we heavily configured the server to do just that. Start off in a brand new world with so many potential avenues that are altered by your character's decisions. A world that is curated around our evolving storyline with plenty to explore and do.
That’s not all! Our server is heavily customized to make it very unique. Think of it as a new RPG game running inside of the ARK Game Engine. All creature spawns are custom. Resources spawns have been revamped. The ways to gain certain creatures has changed. There’s many world quests all throughout the world for you to complete to gain creatures or items. Not to mention custom spawn points, a fully fleshed out character customization method, starting questlines, reputation systems and more. Ever want to head to a mine and farm materials to sell? Well now you can! How about deep diving into dungeons to find that precious loot? Go ahead. Protect your village from pirates and bandits! Become a member of the council and influence the lands Trust us when we say that's not all. Our goal here is to have a non-restrictive and fluid role-play experience for you. We provide you with additional avenues to take your character with guilds, magicks, jobs and more without restricting you to template classes. All you have to do is pick out what you want to do!
There’s a reason why Glyph RP is now known to have such a high player retention rate. Our staff team works around the clock to make sure player engagement and character development stays top notch! We regularly hit the top 10 of ARK Servers in the world, consistently have 50/60+ people on every evening during Peak RP times and work to keep constant rotating content to keep you engaged every step of the way.
We appreciate your interest in our server! Hopefully this is a start to a wonderful friendship!
For details about our server please visit https://glyphrp.com !

Our Lore

Well, there's quite a good bit of lore as we're establishing a fantasy universe here at Glyph. However, take a look at the storyline of Velkus here! https://glyphrp.com/lore

Server Info

Main Info

Server Name: Glyph RP: Campaign 2, Season 3: Growth
Discord Link: https://discord.gg/glyphrp
Website Link: https://glyphrp.com/
Mod List: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2921075351

Rates - In-Game Purchasable boons to increase rates server wide

EXP: 1.5x
Harvesting: 3x
Taming: 4x - Immersive Taming
Breeding: 8x, Reduced Interval, Imprint/Growth in Soul Traps

Misc

Map: Ragnarok - Custom Glyph RP Map Extension Mod to make it unique
Gamemode: PvP/PvE
Voice RP Friendly: Yes
Text RP Friendly: Yes
Fliers Allowed: Yes, including a Soul Binding Ritual to tie special creatures to your character.
Whitelist: Yes
Max Wild Dino Level: 150 Base, 170 for Shinies and Territory Creatures
Loot Crates Enabled: Obtained through treasure chests, events, dungeons, etc.

How to begin your journey!

First, read our website! It'll have all information about our server https://glyphrp.com) and then join our Discord! It will give you detailed information about our server, from plugins to server rules. You'll have to do a short application to get whitelisted. However it is our goal to get you in as quickly as possible. We understand your time is important to you and you just want to play ARK. So expect a whitelist notification very quickly. You'll be able to join immediately. No waiting till next restart here!
https://discord.gg/glyphrp
See you soon! :)

Context; working on an ambulance that’s a Chevy express 3500 with the 6.6l duramax (LGH) that only engages cruise once in every 50 or so presses on average. Once it actually engages, it stays engaged with no issue. Tested the switch, it’s good and the rest of the system seems to be working 100%.
Here’s the rub; on my code reader it says the disengage reason is “PTO engaged”. This thing has never had a PTO, and I didn’t even think that was a factory option on these van chassis?
Anyone seen anything related to this? The engine also has a DEF delete, and I’m not sure if that engine software has got something in it? Or if I’m just missing something simple.
Thanks in advance for any and all info, I have been stumped on this for a while.

Does anybody know what all the possibilities of parts are from the 200 gold crate? So far I have gotten the mythic RB26-TS engine, the legendary 55 PSI twin turbos, legendary Hillwood+ Gold calipers, legendary KY race suspension with +110 grip, mythic CMR-XXT clutch with 40% shift speed, mythic 8 gear transmission with 85 shift speed and +120 power, and legendary weight with -20%. Anybody know of any other things you can pull from it?

-40k miles crate motor, well maintained -Used professional snap on diagnostic scanner. No applicable codes. Could be something with fuel regulator just watching the numbers and listening to idle but not sure.. - WONDERING: If anyone else has had maybe a bad EGR valve that caused symptoms like these listed below.. or some other thing that could be the cause of it besides maybe a head gasket or a bad/leaky/sticky injector cup… (before we further rip into it)
At the risk of providing too much info here it is-

• INITIAL SYMPTOM: Acted like it was hydrolocking when tried to start after it’d been sitting for 6 or more hours. Would try to start and it’d turn over half a second and stop. Would repeat a few times. Let it sit a couple minutes then it would actually start. -it was started like that a half a dozen times over a few days. Then decided to drive it to shop to work on it. -SECONDARY SYMPTOM: At the gas station on the way, Coolant started pushing out of radiator cap. No overheat indication. The engine has never overheated. (At each of the last few engine oil changes he’d have to add half a gallon of coolant to top it off but not an alarming amount). -we haven’t seen any white smoke coming out of the tail pipe -pulled glow plugs. Cylinder 3 glow plug was wet (not sure what it was wet with but the small bit we saw either wasn’t enough to smell or didn’t smell like fuel). -pressure tested coolant at radiator with motor cold and glow plugs out. It held pressure. Had it under pressure over a few hours. -turned the crankshaft by hand and didn’t see any coolant spitting out of the glow plug holes -considered doing block test but thinking too much of the affected coolant was likely lost to detect if there was fuel in it.. not sure though.

Is there anything else we should check before pulling injectors? Thx!