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Prometheus's defences had started to fail, as it took increased amounts of fire, from drones and ships of the Kirosian and Cerian space fleets. The situation was beginning to get grim, as Beyond's forces were reduced to only forty ships. It seemed as if any cries for help, would get lost in the depths of space.
However, a light began to shine on the visitors from Earth, as over a thousand Azurian ships, came in alleviating the pressure. The entire armada and reserve.
The one leading the charge, broadcasted a message to his fleet before the attack. "My people, and those of you watching back home. Today we have watched members of our clan die on this forsaken planet. Right now, our benefactors and the future Queen of Azuria are at risk of perishing to the monsters who threaten our very way of life and our existence... Forgive this selfish king, but will you follow me into battle and help me save my granddaughter and our allies?!"
Everyone watching, roared in response and stomped in rhythm. "Hai!"
Akio smiled. "Then, let us be victorious!"
The broadcast ended, as his ship, the Azure Dragon, descended towards Rennaya, ignoring the barrage of missiles fired by the Pandora. Akio looked back with a pained look, at the remaining, twenty-two Hashin with him, standing in formation by the bay door.
"I have seen all of you, grow up, trained you and guided you. I have seen you find love, be hurt, and find true happiness. Each of you are my kin, nothing can hold us back when we work together and no one can stop us." He took a deep breath, then continued. "However my comrades. Today is the one day, you are excused from your duties. This mission is out of respect for my child and the level of danger is much more than I can even anticipate. I will not fault any of you or hold a single grudge if you feel like walking out of that door right now."
None of the Hashin, flinched, nor budged, they didn't doubt each other either. Making Akio's lips tremble. "Do you know what I'm asking of you? You're lives, will be forfeit the moment we enter Rennaya."
Roku stepped up, unveiling his mask. "Do not disrespect us, Akio. Our honour was tarnished, the moment we let our prince die alone out there. We are failing right now to protect our King. Please allow us, to protect the next Queen and our Elder. For Azuria!"
He glanced back at the soldiers. "Isn't that right?!"
They stomped to rhythm, in agreement. "Hai!"
The General smiled as he watched a tear roll down the Elder's cheek. "Cheer up old friend. Let us die with you." He said, as one by one, the Hashin began jumping out of the bay doors.
On the outskirts of Senae, Atlas vs Tobi & Osei...
Osei launched several volleys ahead, as he called on lightning to reinforce himself. Atlas was elated, dissipating the volleys with electric volleys of his own, then blocked his charge, as he reached out and manifested an intricate sword out of the ground below. Which slipped into his hand, just in time to block a flaming strike from Tobi, coming from behind him and managed to push him back.
"Bring it on!" He yelled out to the brothers, while unsheathing his own sword with his other hand, then began simultaneously parrying and striking back at them both.
He broke the deadlock, then twirled around quickly in place, creating a hurricane barrier, pushing them both back. Then threw the sword he created, at Tobi, who managed to deflect it, with quick reflexes, however, the force of the impact stung his hands, distracting him for a second.
A chance the emperor did not hesitate to take, as he dodged a charge from Osei and instead, teleported behind Tobi, while raising his own sword, high above his head.
"No!" Osei yelled out.
Atlas's eyes glimmered, as he smiled, seeing both of the brothers in despair. "Imperial Judgement, Execution!"
The wind followed the emperor's strike, erasing the landscape behind Tobi, as a massive fountain of blood, sprayed out of a gaping new cut, diagonally down his chest. He dropped to the floor, dozens of meters from his original position, as he held onto his chest, freezing his wound and convulsing. It was taking everything he could, to not fall unconscious, however eventually, the darkness took over.
"I... I... I won't forgive you!" Osei yelled out furiously, losing it, as Atlas laughed out loud.
Then, he glanced back at him, soaking in the torment, he was putting the prince through. "Don't worry, he won't die. I still need him. I just wanted to make sure he had a good nap." He said, pointing his right hand at Tobi's body, as a coffin of ice, swallowed him and began healing his wound back, slowly.
Osei could not believe, the situation they were in. It felt surreal after everything he had been through. Something deep within him, began to snap, as years of trauma, boiled up to a single point. He lunged, at full speed, striking Atlas' sword, with overbearing might, and pushed him flying back into an area away from Tobi. "You bring disaster with you, everywhere you go. You're existence, is the only one, this galaxy... No, this universe never needed!"
Osei struck down as the emperor hopped to his left, freezing the prince's sword to the ground. Osei managed to break his hands-free and followed up with a high kick to his face.
Atlas bent back, nearly missing the strike, then gave him two quick punches. One to his face, the other in his gut, bursting forth a beam of ice, as it crashed him through several hills.
Osei got up, coughing blood. "Not yet! Thunder Raika!"
Lightning crashed down, meeting an umbrella of ice, that the emperor managed to raise in time, with its hilt redirecting the charge into the ground. "It's over. Just give up. You did your best."
Osei clenched his fists, seething. What must his people be thinking of him? What would his parents do?
He felt as if he had failed them and could no longer take it anymore. "Not yet. As long as I draw breath..."
He placed his hands together, condensing a massive amount of electricity within a small violet sphere, dozens of times over. "Remo Raieqa!" It shattered forth, beaming violently and eating away the landscape on the way, to Atlas.
Atlas raised a finger, as a sphere of ice, held together an unfathomable amount of pressure, causing cracks in the sphere itself. Then, he launched it towards Osei's incoming attack. "Wind Sovereign!"
The shockwave, followed by a razor blast of wind, dispersed his beam in half and dissipated it as it crashed into Osei's chest, knocking him off of his feet, and crashing him through the terrain. Osei was having a hard time, keeping his eyes open. He felt bruises and fractures in multiple parts of his body. "I've failed." A tear fell down his cheek, as his regrets ate him up.
"No, my son." His eyes glanced to his left, as he raised his head. It was as if he was daydreaming, with illusions blending in with reality.
"Mom?" He asked, unbelieving of what he was seeing.
She smiled while keeping her hands above his chest, healing him, as someone else knelt to his right and spoke. "We failed you."
He glanced at the face of a very familiar man. One wearing a crown, with a remorseful and saddened expression. "Dad? But how?"
His memory took him back to the explanations, the Novas and Tobi gave of the ethereal plane. However other than Tobi, the others had only seen one or a few Rennayans each.
Zenu shook his head. "We should have been certain of you and your brother's safety, from the very beginning. The life you've had to go through. I can never forgive myself for that."
Safiyah was fighting back tears, but she took over. "We are so sorry. Will you forgive us?"
Osei, laughed, with tears escaping his eyes. "I've never blamed you for anything. I wish things never went the way they did. You were the greatest parents. My only regret is not having enough strength to restore Rennaya myself."
He covered his eyes. "I'm sorry father, I'm no prince. I've failed to keep my brother safe and I've failed to bring justice for our people."
Zenu smiled. "If we can be forgiven, then you can too. Come on, get up."
Osei pondered about what he meant, but as he got up, slowly, his eyes grew wide. Standing around them, with Waio in front, were hundreds of millions, if not a billion people.
Safiyah spoke up. "My little Osei, no one blames you for anything, you've far exceeded what was expected of you and gave hope to the galaxy once more. You have done your part. Let us help you, with what you want to do. However, I would advise you to take your brother and escape immediately."
Osei was a little dumbfounded to be once again, seeing so many of his people. It was a little difficult for him to speak. "Thank... You."
He shook his thoughts away, remembering his mission. Then he reached his hand out, as his sword, flew back into his palm, hilt first. "I have to keep my little brother safe. My people, I ask of you, please lend me your strength."
They all began to kneel and punch the ground, as their fists broke through into a deep abyss of darkness. Each of their eyes, began to glow, like a domino effect. They all smiled and spoke together. "Yes, Your Highness."
Osei was stunned, as multiple branches of energy began, opening up, within his body.
Waio spoke up. "Do not be alarmed, my pupil. Of course, you're affinity is high with your people. All of Rennaya once celebrated your birth as a sign of hope, prosperity, and good times to come."
Seeing Waio again, made it hard for him to keep his composure. He continued to look around, remembering all of the faces, of people he used to know, as his parents placed their hands on his shoulders, then spoke in unison. "Whatever you do from now on just know, that we are proud of you and we will always love you, no matter what."
He nodded, as his tears dried up, along with them all disappearing, as Atlas broke the silence. "I was waiting back there, expecting you to come back up. You know, with how you couldn't forgive me and whatnot, but instead I find you bawling your eyes out here. What's the matter with you?"
Osei wiped his eyes, then swung his sword to his side, and released all of the built-up energy he had gathered. A skull with markings similar to Tobi's manifested over his face, then crumbled apart, as his eyes, glowed bright blue, with purple and black veins, coursing through his body, pulsing in intervals. His hair flashed full silver, then settled, mixing evenly with the rest of his jet-black hair.
Mist escaped his mouth, with each breath he took, as rings of fire crushed the ground, followed by tremors and thousands of lightning strikes. He had reached his peak.
"Sorry for the wait. I'm alright now. Let's settle this." He spoke calmly, as the tension, rose between them. They stared each other down with pure malice. Yet the emperor could not help noticing, the phenomenon occurring around him.
He laughed, realizing what was happening. "It would seem, the reports were true. The suits that have been granting your human allies, abilities, can also bring about miracles near death. It was tragic what happened on Valtorin, but it was a truly valuable experience. Luckily our drone captured everything, but to be witnessing it myself here... I'm getting even more excited."
Osei, cracked his neck, then crouched, charging up electricity, as his sword caught fire. Then he struck vertically, ripping apart the ground between them, as the aerial strike jetted with at an incredible speed.
Atlas was surprised by Osei's growth. Forcing him to shift into second gear, as he raised a steel wall out of the ground. Which forced him to drop Tobi out of his chamber and woke him up, as he wondered where his brother went.
Atlas drew his sword, coating it in fire. "I raised you. Yet, you dare stand against me!"
Osei laughed out loud. "Every living moment under you was hell. You're just a robot, gone wrong. It's time for you to get tossed to the junkyard."
The emperor glared at him, a vein nearly bursting out, on his temple. "I see, you're prepared to die."
They lunged at each other, bringing absolute devastation to their surroundings, as both of them aimed for the kill. Osei broke the deadlock, jumping back, then pointed a palm at the ground, as it started to rise. "Doteko Ohoni."
A gigantic replica of him rose out of the ground, with its inner body fueled by lava and its outer covered in titanium, diamonds, & other gems. In its hand, a sword the size of a building maintained violent, violet flames coated over it, as lightning continuously struck it.
Atlas's eyes grew wide, then he turned around, to retreat in the opposite direction while preparing a condensed sphere of lava. However, the giant lunged after him and swung vertically with precision, before he could escape.
The emperor spun around just in time, thrusting the sphere at the giant's sword, to mitigate some of the force as he was sent flying across the country. He tried regaining mobility, midflight, but the winds were too much, that's when he saw a looming shadow, covering the sky, and beginning to descend.
Atlas immediately threw his hands into the air, trying to launch anything to protect himself on time. However violet lightning struck the giant, aiding his descent down even faster and leaving a devastating impact on the face of the planet.
Osei hovered over, feeling the emperor's life force, still burning strong below. "You don't deserve any mercy!" He yelled out, knowing he could still hear him, then raised his right hand to the sky. It began to rain and then seconds later, the rain clumped together while freezing into sparrows, charged with electricity.
He watched as the remains of the giant was split in half, by a beam of lava. As it broke apart, he didn't hesitate and dropped his hand. "Kraman Armada!"
Millions of sparrows crashed down onto the emperor, cutting him up, and bombarding him with intense stings and surges. Then, froze him in a massive iceberg of birds, shocking him nonstop with tens of billions of volts.
Osei crouched down and gathered all of his energy to the edge of his blade, then burned it hotter than ever, with fire & electricity, as dark clouds supplied him with an endless capacity. He frosted his hands over to protect himself from the heat, as a superheated coat of magma pulled itself together over his blade, adding to the firepower.
He thought of everyone he needed to do this for and sealed his resolve. "Let's finish this."
Atlas was trapped, defenceless as he tried to melt himself free. Regardless of anything he could have done, it would have been too late, as Osei shot out of the sky, like lightning.
"Raieqa Omega!" He yelled before he cut through the ice and Atlas at the same time. Wiping out the entire landscape around and behind Atlas, as he whizzed past, sheathing his sword.
He turned around cursing, as multiple side effects started to take effect on his body, disorientating him, as he watched Atlas stitch back the half of his body that had nearly been cut clean. "I missed." He whispered to himself.
Atlas noticed, that several of his circuits were not working the same, since his core was nicked. He glared at Osei, with a deadly look. "You've gone too far!"
Osei smirked, knowing he struck a nerve. "I could say the same for you!" He heaved, trying to catch his breath. 'Hold on Osei, just one more.' He told himself, as he gathered up the last of his energy within him and formed a stance.
Atlas looked down at the ground, as his anger boiled over the top. All five of the elements began to rampage all around them, simultaneously. Disappearing as each one laid waste to the environment. His hair began to flash silver, as earthquakes raged the continent.
Osei's eyes grew wide, as he noticed the emperor's energy skyrocketing.
His eyes went white, then slotted back to a glowing bloodshot red. New pressure emanated from him, making the air, seem heavier to breathe. As he spoke, his voice sent chills down Osei's spine. "It's time to end this."
Osei, clenched his teeth, leaping at lightning speed. "Raieqa Omega!"
His sword, this time, collided with Atlas's, but the force of the emperor swinging back, sent him flying back over half a kilometre. Osei dropped his sword, unable to hold onto it, as he skidded, crashing across a field. He quickly got up, putting all of the energy he could muster into a condensed violet flaming sphere, charging it with electricity, and spinning around a core of magma.
Frost covered his hands, as the heat of its orbit, began cutting into his palms. He thrust it forth, just in time as the emperor landed in front of him. "Seiaqa Ultimate!"
Atlas smirked as he raised his hand at the incoming blast. Then it began to split around him as it seemingly struck an invisible barrier in front of it. Visible only as it began to crack.
Osei staggered, letting up in disbelief that it had done nothing to the emperor. He watched as Atlas raised a finger toward him, with a disappointed, yet saddened expression. "You were a good warrior. You just didn't know, who you were up against." He spoke calmly, as the sky seemed to go dark, raining with occasional rings of thunder, while he darted his finger in five thrusts at Osei's body. "Particle Decimation."
Tobi had just arrived. Just in time, to watch his brother drop to the floor.
Notes:
Raika means bolt in Rennayan.
Remo means concentrated in Rennayan.
Raieqa means shock or volt in Rennayan.
Saieqa Ultimate is ultimate lightning in Rennayan.
Kraman and Doteko Ohoni (Stone King, possibility) were taken from the Ghanian language and used as part of the Rennayan, but I may have misplaced the translations.
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So, it's a side-scrolling shooter in a style similar to Metal slug. A flash game. It's starts in a jungle, the enemies you're fighting have gray uniforms and helmets, and the main character, I think, has blond hair. You start with a pistol, but you can get a shotgun, a rocket-firing shot, and probably other weapons I can't recall. You also have a knife melee attack and, if I don't misremember, you can throw grenades. You can free bearded men stuck in cages (lol), and the enemies scream very loudly when you kill them. For some reason, the main menu was in Chinese (it might have been Japanese, it was over a decade ago). Also, interestingly, I distinctly remember the soundtrack being stolen from the last third of the soundtrack of the Fort Schmerzen mission in Medal of Honor allied assault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkx7mnSr2Hc&list=PL83B72EF62A8E53AF&t=150s

Struggled to find one of these, so here’s mine now I’ve bitten the bullet - enjoy:
https://www.oculus.com/appreferrals/Chazyanan/3647259232032222/?utm_source=oculus&utm_location=7&utm_parent=frl&utm_medium=app_referral

In a heartwarming display of camaraderie and appreciation, MS Dhoni, the iconic captain of Chennai Super Kings (CSK), led his team's lap of honour at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. Joined by the beloved Suresh Raina and the rest of the CSK squad, Dhoni orchestrated a memorable moment for the fans gathered to witness the final home game of IPL 2024.
Amidst the sea of yellow-clad supporters, Dhoni and Raina, fondly referred to as 'Thala' and 'Chinna Thala' respectively, shared an emotional embrace, evoking nostalgia among the CSK faithful. Raina, who was present at the stadium for commentary duties, dismissed earlier speculations about Dhoni's retirement from IPL, reaffirming their enduring partnership on and off the field.
During the lap of honour, Dhoni exhibited his trademark sportsmanship by handing over a tennis racquet, used to launch signed balls into the stands, to Raina, inviting him to share the joy with the enthusiastic fans. The duo's camaraderie resonated with the spectators, encapsulating the spirit of unity and mutual respect within the CSK camp.
As the celebrations unfolded, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Dhoni took a moment to acknowledge the invaluable contribution of the ground staff, who have been steadfast supporters of the team over the years. The owners of CSK also took the opportunity to commend the players for their dedication and perseverance throughout the season, presenting them with well-deserved medals.
The overwhelming support from CSK fans, evident through their vibrant banners and resounding chants of 'Dhoni, Dhoni', further underscored the deep-rooted bond between the team and its loyal supporters. A towering banner featuring Dhoni's image adorned one of the stands, symbolizing the unwavering adulation for the cricketing legend.
Despite the emotional farewell at Chepauk, CSK remains focused on their IPL 2024 campaign, buoyed by a crucial victory over Rajasthan Royals. With their sights set on the playoffs, CSK continues to strive for success, driven by the unwavering support of their fans and the indomitable spirit of their players.
As the journey unfolds, fans can experience the excitement and thrill of IPL 2024 by engaging with the best cricket betting site2024, Cricaza. With unparalleled access to live updates, expert analysis, and thrilling betting opportunities, Cricaza offers an immersive platform for cricket enthusiasts to enhance their viewing experience and be part of the action.
As CSK prepares for their upcoming clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), fans eagerly anticipate another electrifying encounter at the forefront of cricketing excellence.
To visit : https://cricaza.com/

(Spoiler tag just in case.)
I finally beat this MFer on dynamic— I followed a few strategies I saw on Reddit and wanted to share the one that really worked on just the second or third try (albeit a lot of other tries before using this party). Can’t find the OG post so consider this an endorsement of that strategy if you’ve seen it. With this party and materia I was able to deal extremely high damage in a short amount of time, killing the MFer before the other b*tches had a chance to blow up all over me
SETUP:
party: Tifa, Cloud, Aerith
materia: elemental(2*)+lightning [two if possible, one for Cloud, one for Tifa to make them immune to lightning], auto-cast+binding [Aerith], magnify+time [Tifa], First Strike x2 (2-3*) [Tifa and Aerith], limit siphon [Tifa or Cloud], darkside [Cloud], enemy skill [Tifa], ATB stagger [Cloud, Tifa], ATB assist [Aerith], Petrify and/or Poison [Aerith], Speed materia [Tifa]
accessories: marlboro orb [Aerith], Space Ranger Service Medal [Tifa], Full Throttle wristguard or Speed demon keychain [Cloud]
STRATEGY:
Start the battle with Tifa, lock on to the mindflayer and cast Stop+magnify to give you a head start to the battle. Switch to Cloud, make sure he targets the mindflayer and go ham with a combo or Cleave to build ATB and hit Focused Thrust. (This will be Cloud’s pattern— you want to build stagger as fast as possible.)
Switch to Aerith. Have Aerith equipped with Auto-cast+Binding and First strike. After Cloud’s combo the monsters will almost be unstopped, so be sure Aerith targets one of the Varghipods with sleep (or is ready to). Use Spellbound Blast with Aerith+Tifa on the mindflayer to build instant ATB (make sure no Vargs get hit) if you have time, then cast sleep on both Vargs immediately one-by-one as they unstop.
Switch back to Tifa, sonic boom for bravery then unbridled strength+omnistrike. Make sure to not spend too much time with any one character; keep switching as you use abilities, so you can make sure to redirect their lock-on to the mindflayer. Keep in mind these three have synergy *skills* that deal large damage chunks while building large amounts of ATB when they land; just be sure the Vargs don’t get caught in the crossfire. Pulling a character for a Synergy Skill is also a good way to redirect them to your target (the mindflayer) if you see them going for a Varg.
Stay with Tifa most of the time, switching to cloud to redirect his target with Focus thrust or Jump also works well to mitigate him attacking the Vargs
—No need to micromanage Aerith, just make sure she has ATB to keep auto-casting sleep on the Vargs; when she needs to build ATB can switch to her for a quick Spellbound Blast hit or reg attacks/tempest, then get back to smashing the mindflayer with Tifa and Cloud. High damage and quick stagger is priority. As soon as you have Tifa+Cloud synergy *ability*, use it to pressure (make sure it’s far enough away to not catch the ads) and smash that MFer relentlessly until it’s staggered. If Aerith has ATB and the Vargs are nappin’, throwin’ a Biora on the MFer don’t hurt nothin’.
Cloud should have ATB Stagger to help have enough ATB to trigger Infinity’s End immediately as the MFer staggers, while Tifa uses whatever abilities are her hardest hitting at the point in succession. I waited until the end of the game to do this challenge, so I had True Strike which allowed me to get the multiplier to x190 right before Cloud slammed down, maxing out his damage. When MindFlayer is staggered, Aerith’s priority is still to keep the Varg babies asleep, but if they dreaming and she has unused ATB, smash the MFer with spells or Soul Drain.
You can use another synergy ability to try and finish it off but be warned: Aerith+Tifa’s Divine Punishment is risky as it has big AoE so you risk killing a Varg if they’re remotely close by.
Also Limit Siphon can work well here to build Cloud or Tifa’s limit and melt the MFer according to other players I’ve heard from, although I did not need it probably because I had True Strike.
Should be a just a few more hard hits and a yet relentless Tifa or Spellbound Blast to finish off the MFer if it survives your stagger onslaught.
take note: if the little Varghipod bastards count down to one and you see them start to screech nearby— BLOCK!! You can block the Deafening Screech!
Dunh-dunh-dunh-dunnnh Dunh Dunh Dunh Dunh-dunnnnh
OTHER ANECDOTES:
It took me like 2+ hours of trying different combinations to find one that worked for me. I tried the long method with Yuffie solo, but it didn’t work for me; always got destroyed by Psychotic Break halfway thru followed by some bullshit, was never able to stagger the thing fast enough and just too annoying to keep avoiding the Vargs the whole time. I knew synergy had to be the key to take it down as fast as possible. Tried with Aerith+Tifa but the Vargs always ended up dying in crossfire, so I added Cloud to be that third for a synergy ability with Tifa that will ONLY target the mindflayer, speeding up stagger massively, and an additional distraction for the Vargs. Tried Tifa, Cloud, Barrett but just couldn’t get it before the ads blew up all over us. Also, learning you can block the screech was a big unlock for me.
I was in the brink of switching to easy just to max out my enemy skill (I avoided taking this fight seriously until I beat the main scenario and finished all other simulator intel), when I read the way with Aerith using auto-cast+sleep and it really changed the game for me. Also knowing Stop works in addition to Sleep, and being able to block Deafening Screech. Almost made me… enjoy… the challenge and I feel super accomplished for “solving” that dumbass mission. Have heard people having success with Cloud or one ally being a frog too 🐸
All strategies will require some luck. Lean in to what works for you! Good luck! Anyone have a sound take on what works best for this challenge on hard mode?

After a long absence from Total War I decided to try Uesugi on Hard as I never played them before...seems like there's good reason for that, they seem to be the filling in a pain sandwich!
Everyone seems to want to kill you 3 turns into the game and the starting area is pretty awful, haha.
My usual campaign-ender is the Takeda marching up with a double doomstack about 25 turns in and absolutely curbstomping my Ashigaru with a whole host of various Samurai.
In light of this I started again and tried bribing them with gold and got an alliance a few turns in. Seems a sweet deal.
Okay but here's the thing; they attack my vassal to the South, which I start with. This means whatever I do, it breaks an alliance and my Daimyo loses honour. I found this pretty incredible - I allied with someone, they attack someone under my protection, and regardless of how I intervene I am seen as an evil dishonourable bastard? Ummm...?
Even worse, a turn later after I passively let them attack my Vassal to maintain the alliance, the Takeda then end their alliance with me and become very unfriendly. I then lose another honour point for "breaking alliances". Now everyone hates me and wants my head on a pike within 3 turns. What gives?

[First] [Previous]
A new class has been unveiled in light of the actions of the Unbidden. Given the wide array of ships and mechs this is applied to, this is less of a classification and more of a warning label, or to some Terrans a badge of honour, because of course it is.
Members of this class lean into the Terrans' penchant for unpredictability, being issued no orders or strategy. Instead, the commander who unleashes one, being of sound mind and body, simply dictates the win conditions of the current engagement.
It goes without saying that these machines are considered weapons of last resort, and the pilots are generally the kindest and most courteous examples of the Terran race you will ever meet, deliberately chosen to ensure that no Chaos-Class is ever used before it is absolutely necessary

Known examples:

Ships:
The HFS Sick Of Your Shit, the first member of this class (that we know of) and the primary exemplar of the philosophy: It contains features of every ship class and subclass at once, whilst also having every weapon the Terrans have made to date. A full broadside is described by allies as "Sensory Overload: the Barrage"; and is infamous for overloading any form of adaptive defenses, to the point where some argue it should have been named the Adapt to This.
The HFS Fuck around, which disguises itself as other ships such as merchants, only to tag any ship hoping to disrupt supply lines with a homing beacon, causing their base to find itself raided in turn by its Battleplate sister ship the HFS Find Out
The HFS Observe, a ridiculously modular and reconfigurable ship capable of tailoring its own design to the situation. Many a general both enemy and ally has expressed doubts as to the limits of this ship only to be quite comically disproven
Mechs:
With the reveal of the Chaos Class, it was subsequently revealed that two mechs seen already had the Chaos designation, being the HFM Hell Is Full and HFM Cotton Eye Joe
The HFM Difficulty Tweak, a Recon-Knight hybrid (also dubbed a "light knight") known for running up to enemy vehicles and mechs and executing an attack the Terrans call a "Drop Kick", knocking them onto the ground where the Difficulty Tweak will then proceed to smash them repeatedly with what appears to be a simple club, both preventing them from being righted and smashing important components. No one is ever sure where it comes from before the charge, but it is always deployed during the distraction of other Terran mechs
The HFM ELEMENT OF SURPRISE, apparently a Dreadnought version of the Difficulty Tweak, it exchanges the "drop kick" attack for a point-blank blast of a dreadfully thorough shattercannon
The HFM YOLO, a Booster Dreadnought seemingly taking inspiration from the HFS Leeroy Jenkins and Sick Of Your Shit, charging through enemy lines while firing off missile pods, automated turrets, and proximity chargesl, all the while broadcasting its name amongst all available channels, both allied and otherwise. This mech is particularly effective at Aklatlining for the enemy shield generators, leaving the victims open to a bombardment from more conventional mechs whilst they try to take down the active menace among their ranks
The HFM I Can Do Anything, a last resort among last resorts. This Mech sports a "perpetually experimental" device the Terrans have dubbed an Irreality Engine. The designers refuse to share how exactly it works for fear of the experiment being replicated, insisting it's "for your own safety". Frankly understandable, given that the device enables to the mech to, well, live up to its name. It effectively defies local reality, performing bizarre and often physically impossible actions at rapid pace, to the point where victims and bystanders alike describe a feeling of the world physically spinning around it.
The HFM I Can Do Anything was deployed alongside the HFM Hell Is Full exactly once, on the Unbidden homeworld, with all other allies advised to "Grab your shit and fucking RUN". Luckily, the other commanders had learned to listen when a Terran says "run", and thus were not present when the entire system ceased to be a point in space, described by Terrans as "reality hard-crashed".
When asked how they escaped, the latter mech's pilot launched into a confusing tirade of terms such as "Slam Storage" and "CE Boost", whilst the former simply repeated their mech's name, refusing to exit as part of a secrecy protocol

[First] [Previous]
A new class has been unveiled in light of the actions of the Unbidden. Given the wide array of ships and mechs this is applied to, this is less of a classification and more of a warning label, or to some Terrans a badge of honour, because of course it is.
Members of this class lean into the Terrans' penchant for unpredictability, being issued no orders or strategy. Instead, the commander who unleashes one, being of sound mind and body, simply dictates the win conditions of the current engagement.
It goes without saying that these machines are considered weapons of last resort, and the pilots are generally the kindest and most courteous examples of the Terran race you will ever meet, deliberately chosen to ensure that no Chaos-Class is ever used before it is absolutely necessary

Known examples:

Ships:
The HFS Sick Of Your Shit, the first member of this class (that we know of) and the primary exemplar of the philosophy: It contains features of every ship class and subclass at once, whilst also having every weapon the Terrans have made to date. A full broadside is described by allies as "Sensory Overload: the Barrage"; and is infamous for overloading any form of adaptive defenses, to the point where some argue it should have been named the Adapt to This.
The HFS Fuck around, which disguises itself as other ships such as merchants, only to tag any ship hoping to disrupt supply lines with a homing beacon, causing their base to find itself raided in turn by its Battleplate sister ship the HFS Find Out
The HFS Observe, a ridiculously modular and reconfigurable ship capable of tailoring its own design to the situation. Many a general both enemy and ally has expressed doubts as to the limits of this ship only to be quite comically disproven
Mechs:
With the reveal of the Chaos Class, it was subsequently revealed that two mechs seen already had the Chaos designation, being the HFM Hell Is Full and HFM Cotton Eye Joe
The HFM Difficulty Tweak, a Recon-Knight hybrid (also dubbed a "light knight") known for running up to enemy vehicles and mechs and executing an attack the Terrans call a "Drop Kick", knocking them onto the ground where the Difficulty Tweak will then proceed to smash them repeatedly with what appears to be a simple club, both preventing them from being righted and smashing important components. No one is ever sure where it comes from before the charge, but it is always deployed during the distraction of other Terran mechs
The HFM ELEMENT OF SURPRISE, apparently a Dreadnought version of the Difficulty Tweak, it exchanges the "drop kick" attack for a point-blank blast of a dreadfully thorough shattercannon
The HFM YOLO, a Booster Dreadnought seemingly taking inspiration from the HFS Leeroy Jenkins and Sick Of Your Shit, charging through enemy lines while firing off missile pods, automated turrets, and proximity chargesl, all the while broadcasting its name amongst all available channels, both allied and otherwise. This mech is particularly effective at Aklatlining for the enemy shield generators, leaving the victims open to a bombardment from more conventional mechs whilst they try to take down the active menace among their ranks
The HFM I Can Do Anything, a last resort among last resorts. This Mech sports a "perpetually experimental" device the Terrans have dubbed an Irreality Engine. The designers refuse to share how exactly it works for fear of the experiment being replicated, insisting it's "for your own safety". Frankly understandable, given that the device enables to the mech to, well, live up to its name. It effectively defies local reality, performing bizarre and often physically impossible actions at rapid pace, to the point where victims and bystanders alike describe a feeling of the world physically spinning around it.
The HFM I Can Do Anything was deployed alongside the HFM Hell Is Full exactly once, on the Unbidden homeworld, with all other allies advised to "Grab your shit and fucking RUN". Luckily, the other commanders had learned to listen when a Terran says "run", and thus were not present when the entire system ceased to be a point in space, described by Terrans as "reality hard-crashed".
When asked how they escaped, the latter mech's pilot launched into a confusing tirade of terms such as "Slam Storage" and "CE Boost", whilst the former simply repeated their mech's name, refusing to exit as part of a secrecy protocol

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This is a fan fiction. Events depicted here are not canon, though perhaps they could be.
SpacePaladin15, love your universe, thank you for letting us play in the sandbox.
First /Venlil Contact Arc / Cradle Arc / Battle of Terra Arc / HF Arc / Previous / Next
---
Musical Accompanyment: Boudica, by Pawl D Beats
​
Memory transcription subject: Federation Patrol Captain Merq, observing onboard destroyer UNSS Amatsukaze-Kai
Date [standardized human time]: 1510, October 26, 2136
"Vanguard is hailing us on an open channel." The black suited human at the communications station called out. I still wasn't sure why his suit was black and everyone else's was white.
"Put it up". Captain Hara was relaxed in his command chair. He exuded confidence in his pose, but as the communications line opened I could see the expression on his face change.
I had expected the captain of the Vanguard to be some terrifying person, a human of immense stature, drenched in blood. Instead, what I saw was a human female, significantly aged. She was thin, almost frail looking compared to the Amatsukaze's crew. her uniform was immaculate, emblazoned with dozens of medals and honors. And where I had expected gnashing teeth and a face full of rage, there was only sadness, with eyes that could make even the hardest exterminator question himself.
"Captain Hara... I had hoped it wouldn't be you."
"I'm sorry to say it is, Captain Lane. I have orders to bring you back to Terra."
"You know I cannot go back."
"I know. I also know why. I'm very sorry for your loss. Caitlain and Laura were beautiful girls, and I will miss them very much."
I didn't know who those people were, but it wasn't difficult for me to surmise that they were victims of that ill-fated extermination fleet. Humans said they could control their emotions, but there is nothing quite so dangerous as a predator mother that had lost her cubs, and this sad human proved it in every sense.
"Thank you, Katsuro."
"Maybe I can try to intercede for you, Grace. There are a lot of people who lost their loved ones, and there is nothing so sympathetic as a grieving mother."
"Always the gallant one, Katsuro, but I'm afraid I must refuse."
"Then there is nothing left to discuss. I'm sorry, Grace."
"As am I Katsuro. Now, COME AND GET ME!" The other captain snarled and closed down the communications line. Warnings of activated weapons and missile launches came seconds later, and the bridge of the Amatsukaze erupted into a scene of barely controlled fury.
"Maximum burn! Weapons free!"
"Maximum burn, aye!"
"Torpedoes launching!
I felt myself slammed into the seat by our acceleration, like a giant hand had pressed down on my chest and pinned me back. I heard a repeated gentle swooshing sound, which I recognized as the torpedoes being launched. Twenty... Thirty... FIFTY! How many warheads did these human destroyers carry?!
The one called Azrael shared the tactical plot with me. Our ship was marked in bright blue, with the other two ships from DesRon1 marked in a more muted color. Vanguard was in an equally bright yellow. Between the ships, I could see dozens... no HUNDREDS of bright pinpricks, the torpedoes of both sides racing towards their targets. As the torpedoes passed by each other there were a series of detonations, destroying them by the pawful. Still, there were too many.
"Evasive pattern Hara Alpha."
"PDCs active!"
Our ship swung around, moving "up" above the detonations, while our friendlies labeled "Sumner" and "Onslaught" moved around other sides. Streamers of tracers erupted from all four ships, swatting at the incoming torpedoes that even now were still being launched. Even with the hail of fire, some got through on both sides, and our ship was rocked by near misses and close detonations, radiation splashing off our shields.
There were several flashes on the tactical plot as Amatsukaze fired its main battery. The other two destroyers did the same, and Vanguard was peppered with slugs and plasma. I could see on the holographic display of the marauding human battleship that it's shields were flashing with each hit. Weapons fire impacted those shields over and over, but they stubbornly resisted.
Vanguard returned fire, most of her battery focused on Sumner, but with enough turrets left over to engage us and Onslaught at the same time. I watched our ally's shields flicker, as a volley which could cut a patrol cruiser in half slammed into it. The destroyer staggered but kept fighting.
"Hits on Sumner!"
"Evasive pattern Hara Beta. Captain White, you ok?"
"Still here!"
"Onslaught, cover Sumner. Helm, bring us in closer!
"How close, sir?"
"Right down their throat..."
Amatsukaze raced forward as Sumner pulled back behind Onslaught. With her first target hidden, the battleship turned, bow on towards us, and cut lose again with its main battery. Our shields broke, and the ship shook violently. Damage reports streamed in, with several sections of the ship showing red.
We closed the range, and our point defense cannons refocused on the Vanguard itself, spraying the battleship with thousands of rounds. The battleship did the same to us, and dozens of rounds sliced through the bridge leaving trails from their passage.
"Evasive Hara Gama"
"Hara Gama, aye!"
Was this really how humans fought?! The ship had been hit so many times, and panic welled up in my heart as the much larger battleship ripped into us. Yet the humans were clam, undeterred. The weapons team kept slamming round after round into the bigger ship as we passed by. Captain Hara ordered a turn, and we swung around behind Vanguard, then back up her side. The battleship's shields finally failed as our squadron bit and tore at it.
We were hit again, and an explosion ripped into our hull. I couldn't hear it anymore, but I could feel it through the deck and the restraints holding me in my seat. I looked at the exterminator next to me, and I could see his eyes wide with panic.
"Onslaught is deploying breaching pods!"
"Target Vanguard's PDCs and launch our own pods."
Human marines. They had gotten a reputation for efficient violence, cold dealers of death that could stand one on one against any Arxur warrior. Half a dozen pods latched onto the battleship, and the violence of the battle moved from space to the Vanguard's armored hallways. There was little more we could do, and our squadron pulled back, ready to resume their attack.
Amatsukaze's crew ran through their damage assessment, with damage control parties working to patch holes in the hull and restore our atmosphere. I looked at the readings for the other two destroyers and realized that they weren't in any better condition. Each member of the squadron had critical damage. Weapons torn away, hulls gashed and ripped open, reactors disabled. It was a miracle that none of the squadron was lost.
A signal came from the marines indicating they had captured Vanguard. When Captain Hara asked about Captain Lane, the message came back that she had been killed in action. I saw the human's gaze fall down to the deck.
"Captain," I said. "Thank you for putting an end that monster's madness."
Captain Hara looked at me. "You never knew Grace Lane. She had a beautiful house in London. Two beautiful daughters. A very friendly cat, named Max. All of it, gone in a flash." I heard the air being restored into the bridge, and the captain removed his helmet. I could see a tear roll down his cheek, which he wiped away. "It's one thing to kill a faceless foe, Captain Merq, but to know the names and faces of your enemy... That is something completely different." He paused, turning back to his command station. "Helm, set a course for home. As soon as we transfer a crew to Vanguard, we'll be off."
I had always doubted the empathy reports from the Venlil, showing that humans could feel emotions the same as us. All of that doubt was gone now. I knew the truth.
And that truth frightened me.
WHAT HAD WE DONE?!

14AC
Another writ, another paper, another plan, another request, another bill, another demand, another fucking sheep eaten by another fucking dragon. Orys Baratheon, Lord Protector, One of Three, the half-dragon, the wingless, the shadow, the man who never was. In his office, every name that had ever been levied at him was able to burrow into his mind.
He had ruled and kept the kingdom running for eight years now, he had sought to keep this fucking dream alive, because Aegon, poor… poor Aegon wanted it to be so. He wanted seven kingdoms unified, and he got them. He wanted Dorne, but he never reached them. Rhaenys had managed to though, she had brought herself to Dorne and brought friendship back. Soon enough, they would have an eighth kingdom. It was all but assured through the works of too many people in the right places with the right minds.
“Had Aegon conquered a Kingdom of fools, I would rule in ashes,” he sighed, running a firm, trained, yearning hand through his thick mane of dark hair.
He was a warrior, a general, Aegon’s right hand, and here he sat, alone, in an office in the highest point of the Red Keep… his memorial to Aegon, his gift to the memory of the finest man he knew… and the fool who thought a general and warrior should be the one to sit in King’s Landing, that he should be the one to keep the two most volatile people the world had yet seen in check.
Visenya had her love of the mountains, Rhaenys her solitude in Dorne.
What was it that he had?
“Silence,” he said, and his voice echoed softly in the room.
Silence, and solitude. He was the man that would sit at the pinnacle of power, and still he bound himself to an agreement. He ruled, he was named paramount, but a lord protector’s role was the protection of a kingdom to be inherited.
Were he a warmonger, he would have seized the Stepstones, would have fought in Essos for influence, puppets, client realms. But he was not a warmonger, he was Aegon’s right hand, and his role was singular - ensure the kingdom would rule beneath another. And there were two options now. Growing by the day.
Visenya and Rhaenys had a child each. They were fine by all accounts, neither vicious things, nor a cruel despot in the making. He had yet to hear tales of them killing birds for fun, or threatening servants, but that only made the issue prominent in the back of his mind. As his own son was coming of age, as he was to marry a Dayne of Starfall, he was left to ponder.
“Who comes next?”
A softly growing set of footfalls echoed along the hallway beyond his office. The tower of the hand was but one of the annexes of the tower and few had cause to arrive during the day lest they had need of the man who ran a kingdom. Many sought the masters of laws, ships or coin, perhaps even the mistress of whispers. But few sought Orys. The half-brother to a king who rubberstamped the requests of queens? What purpose served he? What reason had he to be dragged from his plans and his ideas?
Through his door entered a man grown withered by time. Abelard Stone, trapped by time, he was hardly a formidable man. His mind was sharp, none could deny. But he was a strange figure to fill a doorway. Alone he was constantly found, and yet there was an air of certainty. Old as he was, he had been by Orys’ side for years now, before Aegon had perished, the man had seen to finances and funds for him when he could not turn to Darklyn.
And he brought a slip of paper.
“The tabled expenses,” the man said, holding up the slip, the paper rustling and waving about in thin fingers.
And like a whisper, his voice lingered in his ear.
Orys rose from his desk, and the two men could not have been more different. Orys towered over the aged bastard, where he was broad and firm, the man was hunched and slim, but even so, in his eyes Orys found a knowing strength.
The Baratheon met him in the centre of the wide chamber, by a table for meetings of the council. The man handed over the slip, and stood patiently, watching and waiting for the Lord Protector to read.
The numbers were as he had expected - a lot. A grand hunt in the Kingswood? There were only expenses to be found in that, but he had the funds to pay it. He had his own wealth to rely on after all, lands untended, left to Wylde, were still valuable. But there was a notable expense on the sheet that he stopped on. He walked back to his desk with the page in hand.
“You sourced this from where?” he asked, not expecting an honest answer. Not that there was a reason to doubt the loyalty of the man, but there was a certain sense of defensiveness one needed in such moments.
With a smile, the man simply folded his hands and spoke.
“The tabulations come from the best hunters of the area, a Gormon Gaunt, sited the locations himself, ensured there was a strong stock of hart last he checked, and sighted no bandits.
“None?” Orys queried.
The man shook his head slowly.
“There was no sign of them. Whatever it was that led men to those woods after the conquest, that time has passed. Those woods are empty of all but opportunists and game.
Orys set the page down. The costs were acceptable, recoverable by all accounts. And for what it would provide him? Who was to say that such costs were too high. The forests needed to trim their fat, reports had come in that they were becoming abundant with hog and hart, and the maesters argued that would lead to issues in the future. So, pragmatist he was, he decided his son would reach majority there. He would become a man with spear in hand.
And the land would heal after the hunt.
“And what of the rest?” Orys added.
Abelard smiled thinly, and so he had his answer.
He waved the old man away, and the Lord Protector returned to his seat, his own throne of tidy wood kept clean and polished and cushioned. It was far more comfortable than a throne like that made of swords. There was also no threat of slicing open his arm on one of the rests or tripping and skewering himself.
And sinking into his seat, he relaxed. It was truly his. If he were to seek a throne, he would never fit it quite like he did this one. Besides, thrones were for kings in his mind. They ill-suited the right hand man. For every throne needed someone else on hand to keep a kingdom running.
He had two of them, but they were too often of a differing mind more than they ever aligned. One to his North, one to his South.
---
16 AC
Another letter to the pile. This time a joint declaration and request from the south. To hunt for the missing bodies of a few lords and ladies in the Kingswood. He’d allow them to do it of course, there was naught to gain by disallowing them from finding the bodies of their lost family.
He tossed the worn parchment across the table, letting it land upon his pile of others, right next to two from the queens. Costs for expansions, for hunts, for hirings, for fortifications. Things he would say yes to, things the treasury could bear for they had the coin to do so. Though in time he would have to begin working at the Iron Bank and the Bank of the Seven.
For even if the crown’s treasury was well-stocked, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Dannis Darklyn, it was capable of handling the running of the realm, not what Rhaenys sought.
A palace on Highwatch? Had it not been strategically useful to build for the queen, so that the throne could protect its newly acquired possessions on the Stepstones, he would have denied it outright, instead the Lord Protector could only shake his head. They would need quite the sum of money to build it, protect it, staff it and more. There was also the matter of housing for the dragons at each location they lived. An item he had received petitions over from smallfolk and lords alike for nearly a decade.
If he were going to seek a loan from the banks, then he might as well find enough for that too.
And as if summoned by a thought, his doorway was darkened by Abelard Stone once more. He was getting quieter and quieter ever since the Kingswood. Not for any sickness or ill-health. He simply had taken on a much less apparent stature. The man was slight, he was old. Precisely the type people paid no heed to. But Orys knew better than to think the man frail or infirm.
To just look behind his stare told him all he needed. That old bastard worked a hundred plots at any one time.
“You called?” The man asked, and Orys snickered.
“No, but it’s not as if that would have stopped you,” he replied while turning from the hearth and motioning to the table in the office.
“Come, sit.”
The man did as asked, taking the furthest table on the end and sitting politely upon it. Even the high-backed chair helped to make him seem smaller.
“Your bill,” he noted, placing another fucking sheet of paper on the table. He flinched reflexively at its presence, but smiled as he sighed, there was no cause to fear paper, not when it was something he wanted. Though something else was coming to mind.
“How has the cleanup fared? Did Bloodwood do his job?” Asked the Lord Protector.
The small man nodded, “aye. You picked one for the ages in him. Though I cannot say you should trust him.”
“No one should trust him. No one should even be alone with their back to him. His innate duplicity would demand he stab it.” Orys chuckled, but he did not think the man that terrible. He was honourable when he needed to be, and even if his motives were suspect in the wake of Aegon’s death, he still helped identify the perpetrators… all of them? Maybe not, but the Tullys were complicit, their men were there, they wielded the knives. They led the attack.
“I shall keep that in mind then, my lord,” Abelard said.
“As for the bill. How much of it can I afford to pay from my own pocket?” Asked Orys.
The man smiled thinly, this one a somewhat abashed look.
“Your coffers are quite resplendent my lord, but what you seek is not something that we might arrange with pretty words and bribes. You shall need a considerable sum.”
Orys blew a breath as he leaned back, things he could do, accounts he could raise. But… what was one more item on the loans he sought.
He nodded.
“So be it. Thank you, my friend.”
The man gave a polite nod, and as silently as he arrived, he left.
“Well…” he said softly, “if this is ruling the ashes…” he looked about the office. It was well-furnished, large, and atop one of the highest towers of the Red Keep. There were much worse places to rule without ruling. So, he nodded and he rose to his feet. He took the bill from the table and filed it into the pocket of his coat.
“For another day,” he mused.
---
23 AC
From the window of his office, he could see most of the city. Looking down upon it, it was both the most majestic and the most bland thing he had ever seen. So much stood beneath him, in the third largest city. It was bustling, it was vibrant, but it was full of crime, full of corruption, all of which blossomed under the split of the realm. He had returned from Essos only a week before, and he could not help but think to himself.
At least it is the same everywhere.
Pentos was the same, Braavos no different. The world turned on coin, and the men within it no less.
Even ageing as he was, Orys had thought that might made it work. Dragons conquered kingdoms, armies held castles, men and women of renown pulled it all together. Now… now the only thing that he considered to be true of that was the last part. For men of renown were all that he had. A drunkard was his master of ships, but that same drunkard had brought him to Essos, introduced him to Archons and princes in the East. Men Orys had some small connection to from before the conquest, but Valarr had no shortage of friends within.
Dannis was retired now aye, but in his stead was a man so adept with coin and logistics, that Orys thought him the smartest man he had ever met. Maelor Targaryen, Steward of Dragonstone. Were things to go right, Orys would name him the fucking prince of it. He had earned as much.
There was the Ironsand too - a conniving woman, without a match in the city… though he heard many tales of songs sung in the West. Perhaps those singers would have given her a run for her money.
Malwyn was there too. He was always there. A looming presence in anything that occurred. Finding him in your doorway was nothing short of a curse at times, but none could doubt the ruthless efficiency of the man. None.
There was stalwart Allaric too. A man of poise, of strength, of Northern grit. If there was anyone in this whole city that Orys thought was able to pull this all together… perhaps he was the one. If not for himself.
But he had no time to contend with them. Not today.
“Your city is… growing,” said the Pentoshi man. His regal beard of black hair matched his painted brows and forced smile. All an act, all a display to present the perfect image to the man he spoke to. Decades ago, he would have laughed at such a man. But now… now he knew better. He wasn’t able to be the right hand man anymore, the one who simply did as he was asked, to tackle whatever problem his king had with gusto and zeal.
No, now there was no one to do what had to be done.
Once he thought that his role was simply to observe and protect.
He thought of the man he was then as a fool now. Aegon’s children could inherit, but what then? The strings would be pulled by whichever mother threw their child on the throne. And what of him? The moment they had their chance, they'd toss him to Storm’s End. There he could be forgotten, there he could be pushed aside and left to waste.
But Orys was not a man to be forgotten.
He shook his head.
“My city grows, but it is not even mine,” he said softly and turned from the window, facing the powdered man with a smile.
And the powdered man smiled back, politely and forced.
“Yet it remains a place of power and import, not one to be trifled with, and the man atop it reflects it. He shows strength, careful expansion, and something more beneath the surface.”
Orys chuckled softly.
“What? Did I offend?” The man asked and his accent carried a little more in his words. As if to emphasise that he was speaking a language other than his own. Likely to deflect away any blame or any malice that could be detected in his voice. He was a fine actor indeed.
“No, no offence is taken or found. You just remind me of an old friend,” Orys said with a chuckle.
The envoy slowly unwound after that and finally nodded.
“Friends are important,” he added.
Orys gave another nod. They were, and he had scant few that mattered. None that he knew he could turn to and tell of what had to come. If he did, what then? What good did planning do if a queen came with her dragon to ask, to investigate? He knew not. But he did know one thing. If he lacked friends, then it was a simple matter of making more.
“And what of you? Are your friends important?”
The man smiled thinly.
“The Prince’s friends are men anyone should wish to know, and even more, wish to ally.”
Orys nodded. Were Aegon here, he would have said the same thing of his king… but he was not. He might have said the same of the queens, but he wondered how Dorne or the Vale matched against the rest of the world. Powerful people indeed, but how powerful?
He clicked his tongue and he took from his desk a letter.
“Tell me then, do you have friends in Braavos? Myr? Lys? Tyrosh?” He placed the letter on the table before the plate of fruit arrayed for the visitor.
The man held his composure for a moment, barely blinking, lightly breathing, clearly thinking carefully. And with a glance to the door, the Stormcloak took his meaning and stepped out, However beyond the doors, as they closed, he saw the great beast of a man beyond. A hulking figure of pure muscle and power.
Orys was distracted for a moment as he considered who could win a fight? Him in his prime, or that mass of man?
“I have friends across the free cities,” said the envoy, and Orys’ attention returned as the door clicked shut.
“Then explain to them, if you could. That the Stepstones are not the sole property of either the Seven Kingdoms, or the free cities,” he said, pushing the letter across the table as he walked up to the man. On it was a report from his agents in Tyrosh, of a man claiming to want the return of the islands. Orys had thought him a fool a year ago, but that was before he knew the strength of the man’s fleet, of his willingness to amass strength so boldly.
A dragon would burn such a thing… but he did not wish to rely on dragons. Not now at the least.
The envoy glanced down at the letter, gulped and returned a smile to Orys. “Were there any conflicts to arise. I am certain that my friends would be swift in alerting the instigators to the foolishness of such actions. It will be my pleasure to use these friends to bring peace, your lordship.”
“Should there be, then I would hope to hear of this, by letter or messenger,” he said politely.
“Very well,” said the envoy.
“And there is one final matter.” Orys continued, taking from his pocket another slip of paper and placing it before the envoy. “For your eyes alone, and only once you are upon a ship back to Essos.”
The man eyed it suspiciously, and his hand lingered above it, wavering instead of taking it. Hovering in the air, Orys saw it shiver, saw it shake. He watched the man’s resolve battle with his self-preservation and finally he saw one win out. He took the paper and he slid it into his sleeve before folding his arms within them.
“The Prince and his friends will be certain to assess this with all the necessary merits and costs involved.”
Orys nodded.
“And should you doubt this commitment. I leave in your care a gift, from the personal guard of the Prince himself.” The man clapped his hands thrice in quick succession and the doors swung open and through it lumbered the behemoth beyond. Orys had seen the Mountain that was the Royce before, and he was a menace, and a specimen of no small amount of power. But this one, this one was something unique still.
Royce was enormous, but he was also tall.
This man was enormous, but he was as wide as a house. Barrel chested, with arms as thick as Orys’ torso. His head was shaved bald and his eyes had a beady, placid look about them. Orys took a few steps closer to the man and gave a firm nod.
Standing a few feet shy of him now, Orys could only feel the difference between them. The Lord Protector was a strong man, a fierce warrior, dulled by time, yes, but he was a fighter still. But this man made him feel a child. He was far shorter than the Royce, though far shorter meant he was probably six feet and five inches. A tall man under any auspice. But looking at him… Orys could only think… who would win between the two behemoths.
“What do they call you?” Orys asked, and the barrel-chested man gave a great big, toothy smile.
“They call me Vyronno ‘the Blind’ Aneroyor!” cheered the giant.
“The blind?” Orys asked.
“On account of my eyesight… can’t see too well past a few feet.”
“But you can see me well enough?”
The man nodded.
“Then you see well enough.”
---
24 AC
Upon the deck of the ship he watched King’s landing fade away.
No more fucking papers, no more fucking requests, no more gods damned demands for payments or funding or disputes. He was at sea, and that meant he could just sit and plan and prepare. Though… standing there, watching the city, he could not help but feel at a loss.
Abelard would have liked this view.
Fret not old friend, I shall regale you of it soon enough.
Orys Baratheon stepped away from the rear of the ship and descended to the deck below, where Vyronno waited, patiently stood to the side, where his great bulk was not in the way.
There a table was brought together from barrels and planks and the two men played dice.
He had a friend now. He only hoped that he would have more soon.
But…
No. Now was not the time for doubt.
The Kingswood was healing… ten years ago the catastrophe occurred. Now they held a hunt and festivities there, they celebrated eagerly the coming of age of two princes, with no one any closer to sorting who would rule. Though… could he complain? He could have sorted that years ago, he could have pushed one Queen mother one way or the other, but he didn’t.
Some would think him a fool for it.
Some would know why.
None would be ready.

The City of Haranoth Reach had been held for 6 days now. The T'au forces limiting their engagement mostly to artillery barrage. Bombing runs had also been frequent but had subsided now that the navy had reclaimed much of the southern airspace. Missiles strikes started by targeting particular buildings followed with cluster munitions. It's what the Sisters had come to learn about fighting this xenos. They favoured precise strikes, being methodical. However it was a tell-tale sign of frustration that the strikes became more indirect, simply targeting any position of even the slightest importance. The City was quickly becoming a ruin and the fortress was marked with craters in its great walls. What might have been a desire to retake and reuse had turned, like most things in this was, to simple destruction. If the T'au could not force the Sisters to retreat, then they could not abide them sitting behind their lines. The commander had his orders to exterminate every Imperial still defending the Reach.
Like so many Imperial defensive structures the fortress went deep into the ground. Storage for a small army should the planet have ever fought back 30 years prior. None of the Xenos weapons could penetrate so far through blast doors and walls so thick that some joked the best way of measuring was to put ones arm against them. The bombardment above was muffled in these rockcrete caves, so much that Sisters slept peacefully for the first time since arriving on Gryllus Prime. Squads, missions and commanderies took their turn on the upper levels, guarding against the T'au ground assault that didn't come.
Taranovska and her Preceptors spent most of their time in a command centre studying blueprints and organising defence points. Working out the most efficient way to defend the underground. Choosing which of the surface openings would be best to strike from. How many days they could last to be a thorn in the enemies side. T'au forces kept here focused on the Sisters were T'au forces not attacking Imperial holds across this front, hopefully giving Satu and Zerus'Ralai some breathing space.
Tara paused, noticing the dull thudding that her ears had adjusted to had silenced. Over a comms station on one side of the room an acolyte turned to give a message. "Report from Canoness Vetyana at Gate 12. They have sent an envoy to negotiate."
"Well..." Spoke the Canoness Superior. "It's about time they surrendered" she said to smiles and chuckles around the room.
+++
Haranoth Reach, Gate 12
The tall roof of the this hanger had been hit hard. Only a few pillars were left reaching to the sky to hold a room that no longer existed. A thin path had been cleared in the rubble, enough for a single person to walk down. The light blue of Tara's power armour blending in nicely with the grey debris, golden accents shining in the midday sun. As she came to a clearing she removed her helmet to feel that warmth on her face. Stood in terracotta armour was a T'au. At first they looked like a fire warrior, but as Tara approached its armour was bulkier with an elegant black cape flowing down its back and over one shoulder. As it looked at the Sister it composed itself and removed the helmet to reveal a blue face as equally scarred as hers.
Tara stopped a comfortable distance away, not so close to be undignified talking with a xenos but close enough that she could draw her sword and strike before a pistol would be raised. Though now she saw the T'au had on his side a broad blade. She wondered how well trained he was.
Neither bowed. Tara looked unimpressed, squinting from the bright day. The T'au looked annoyed he was here, clearly thinking himself above the zealot stood before him.
"I am, Shas'el Ukos'shan. Commander of the M'yen'Ka Cadre."
He spoke reasonably well through a heavy accent. He had never wanted to learn the human words. There was an awkward pause."It is a mark of respect, even among enemies to-"
"You know who I am Xenos, let us not waste time." Tara spoke.
Ukos smiled slightly "We have you surrounded, trapped underground. Surrender, save the lives of your warriors.”
“As long as we breath our lives are saved by the God Emperor. And I would not withhold an honourable death from my Sisters”
“Honourable?” Ukos replied. “Their fight is over. There is little honor to be had from either side here now. Putting you down like a wounded animal”
Tara heard it in his voice even with his limited grasp of low gothic. He hated this fight, being drawn out and no real fighting. He was a warrior, being held back. “We could settle it here. Me and you T’au.”
The commander laughed “I do not think our armies would accept a negative result of that contest. And I have fought your kind before. I do not underestimate your skill.” He was thinking about it though. A micro fusion blaster in his wrist could kill her in one well placed shot.
Sensing the stalemate in the conversation Tara decided to finish it. “If our lives are forfeit to your assault, we are ready. But time is not your ally Xenos. Make your decision.” She turned and walked back the way she came, hearing the hiss of the commanders helmet reattaching.
Amelia was waiting for her at gate 12. “That was quick.”
Tara ignored her jest. “Triple the watch. I think they're done waiting.”

The battle for the Starcarrier was brief but fierce, and the floors were drenched in blood.
Scorch marks marred the floors, the ceilings, the walls. The thick durasteel bulkheads were stained with chalky streaks of black and red and bits of bone, and where small fires had sprung up, eerie shadows writhed in the hellish glow. Most of the heavy fighting had long since died off, but the occasional eruption of muffled shouts and pulse rifle chatter came to Mat as distant, hollow things—a dirge of death that echoed down the halls.
He stumbled through darkened corridors and debris-strewn cabins, Nova rifle scraping behind him in a grip weakened by blood loss, drifting past corpses he once called friends. Bodies blocked half-closed doors and cramped halls, some missing limbs or eyes, or even their heads. And for a time, he searched without thought, aimless, a wounded beast maddened by pain and loss, driven by some primal instinct to seek out those who had attacked his ship and killed his friends. They must die…All of them…Die…Pay for what they've done. His thoughts were fractured, scattered, slow to react.
Then the stims kicked in, a sudden, intense electric rush along his veins that cleared the fog from his mind and filled his limbs with terrible strength. His limp vanished, wounds closed, and the rifle came up. He was running again, eyes burning with the promise of death, an implacable foe who knew only an unquenchable thirst for vengeance. And he hunted.
On and on he went, a nightmare in the killing fields of the ship, methodically hunting his prey, reveling in their dying screeches, remorseless and relentless, unstoppable.
He killed without mercy and without hesitation, time and enemies fading into an indistinct blur of blood and screams and death. Death. The dead lay everywhere! All across the carrier, he saw faces he knew, faces of friends and people he loved, dear companions through the long years of war. Torn and broken they were, bodies scattered across vast flight bays and control rooms, mess halls and barracks wings, blank eyes staring blindly. It fed a white-hot fury kindling in his chest until he was sure it must explode. Until he was sure he could hear his sweat sizzling on his face.
Despair. Rage.
From small side rooms to the large bridge deck and everywhere between, toppled furniture lay broken and scattered, charred debris littered the floors, and broken glass crunched under his boots. Everywhere he looked, his eyes found the dead, friends and foes alike, piles of mangled corpses, some still leaking delicate ribbons from wounds smoking with rising heat. They fell in twisted piles throughout a maze of steel and winding corridors cloaked in flickering darkness. Entire platoons lay where they had fallen. Or groups of twos or threes, or even single forms, struck down in attempted flight, faces frozen in the horror.
Then there were the Squids.
A seemingly unending horde of enemy shock troops that fell upon unsuspecting human outposts, slaughtering all in sight. Tall they were and gangly, with long limbs and large bulbous heads covered in writhing tentacles, oblong like a squid. Six Jasper green eyes, slit vertically down the center like a cat’s, arced evenly under a prominent brow ridge. They had no nose, no mouth, only a smooth, flat face of black flesh mottled with dark green splotches. For all their strange appearance, their armor was stranger still, thin, and translucent, a glassy material that shifted through a near-infinite spectrum of colors.
They brought war. Humanity answered them.
This was the deadliest battle Mat had seen since the start of the Squid invasion, a confused and chaotic jumble of screams, explosions, and death. What few lights survived the chaos, whether overhead strips or overturned lamps, flickered and throbbed in random places, went dark for a moment, then surged back to life brighter than ever to begin the cycle anew. Everywhere he went the air was smoky and reeked of burnt hair and blistered flesh, a stinging haze that clawed at his lungs. Odd sounds came to him from the flickering shadows: the creaking groan of shifting bulkheads, the echo of water dripping in the distance, moans of despair from the dying, and the hiss and snap of electrical surges that sent fountains of sparks leaping out to die in the darkness. It was unearthly quiet, spine-tingling, a quality that stirred the hairs on the back of his neck and kept his heart filled with dread.
Never stopping for more than a heartbeat, he found himself creeping through compartments and cabins, bunk rooms, and engineering wings on the fringes of the carrier, even the titanic engine core, almost a quarter-mile in length, half as wide and littered with blackened slag and support beams hanging from the ceiling. He killed where he found enemies, pausing to mouth a solemn prayer over fallen allies. Everything around him took on the aspect of a surrealistic painting, all indistinct contours, and undefined edges, an abstract raving from the mind of a madman—a house of horrors.
But he refused to surrender, he would not fall into despair; he would go on to the end.
Memory stirred.
He remembered the frantic voices of ops officers suddenly screaming over the comm that something strange was happening around the Starcarrier. Bizarre readings and impossible fluctuations had their sensors going awry. One moment there was only the endless black of the Barren Stretch around Echo Point, then the darkness rippled, shimmered, and their world descended into the darkest of nightmares. Squid warships materialized as if from nowhere, all sleek black planes and sharp angles, predatory in appearance and bristling with weapons. Echo Fleet battled them in the emptiness of space, a fierce fight to be sure, but the Squid vessels numbered in the hundreds. For over an hour they held off the Squids, until a hole opened in their shielding, allowing the hordes to blast their way into the Starcarrier.
Mat and his Marines met them with rifles blazing.
It was a frantic battle of adrenaline and fear, running and gunning across the ship. He watched his best friend Annikka throw herself on an enemy inferno wafer to shield her squad from the blast; watched in horror as the explosion reduced her to a blackened, smoldering skeleton before his eyes. So he could live.
Her scream echoed in his thoughts. Courage beyond measure. No time to mourn. Only anger. Only the battle. Only the near-endless enemy horde. Sowly his company of marines were whittled away until only Mat remained—a wolf hunting in a warren of rats.
•••
Mat studied the cargo hold from a wide platform just inside its entrance. Or rather, he stared beyond it. His thoughts were elsewhere.
His wounds smelled of antiseptic medigel, a faint clinical odor that registered somewhere in the back of his thoughts. It helped dull the throbbing pain to a vague itch, a maddening itch in truth, one that crawled and slithered beneath his skin where no amount of scratching could relieve it. With all of Fleet’s advancements, you’d think they could have done something about that itch.
His Nova rifle rested on his shoulder, thin wisps of smoke trailing up from its barrel, and his right boot rested on an enemy soldier's chest. Several large holes smoldered between the Squid's four breasts, the air above them dancing with fiery motes. The expression frozen on the creature’s face was one of stunned disbelief. The expression on Mat’s face was troubled.
Questions circled in his mind.
Questions for which he could find no answers. Such as: how had the Squids found Echo Fleet out here in the Barren Stretch parsecs from anywhere with a semblance of civilization? Where had they come from? None of Echo Fleet’s sensors had detected the approaching enemy until they had attacked. How? The whole shittin affair stank of a rat, one he meant to ferret out if he lived long enough to see it done.
Yet he knew it went deeper than ship level. He was sure of it. There was no question in Mat’s mind that someone in the halls of power at Fleet had sold them out. It was the only thing that made sense. But why? What could they possibly hope to gain? The Squids did not negotiate. They did not show pity or remorse or restraint. They killed indiscriminately and never took prisoners. And they never broke their silence.
A few of the eccentrics back in the Sol system had a theory that was gaining traction. They believed the Squids looked at humanity as cattle and they were simply harvesting what the universe had provided. That's why no bodies were ever found. A strange notion that, both appalling and infuriating, considering the countless worlds teeming with myriad animal life ripe for the taking and without the brutal costs of war.
No, Mat was sure it had to be something else.
So what could the betrayer back at Fleet, whoever that might be, hope to gain by throwing themselves in with the Squids? A one-way trip to the final chill if Mat had his way. Still, they wanted something. What was it? To weaken Fleet? To destroy a political rival? What was their endgame? A look of utter disgust twisted down his mouth and he spit on the cold steel floor grating. Money and power. It always comes back to that. Greed.
A flicker of movement caught his eye.
Heart hammering against his ribs, Mat raced to the end of the corridor, rounded it, and dropped to one knee, rifle snapping up for the kill. A vague armored form vanished into the ship’s command and control center at the far end of the hall.
Shit! I have to stop them! He sprinted toward the room.
Every ship in Fleet had a room just like it. The heavily shielded chamber housed vast computer banks and neural network arrays, holo readouts, and a million pulsing thrumming lights, the brains that drove the Starcarrier. But more importantly, hidden within that room was an encrypted transponder case complete with its own power source and comm array that held the Fleet access codes issued to each ship. Those codes kept the vast defense networks guarding humanity’s borders from mistaking an approaching friendly for enemy ships and turning them into glittering space dust. Only the captain and first officer ever put eyes on those codes. If the enemy managed to get their hands on a transponder they could penetrate human defenses; they could move unchallenged toward the inner worlds! Not while I'm breathing, Mat scowled, and he unconsciously bared his teeth, hustling up to the edge of the control room’s entrance. Heart thundering in his ears, mouth dry as a sun-bleached bone, he shot a quick glance inside. Shock rocked him back on his heels.
“Commander, Dollard?”
A tall woman working the controls of the master holo terminal whirled to face him, an ugly snarl twisting her features. Her Blaze pistol came up for the kill. Mat dived outside ahead of a hail of heat rounds that put glowing holes in the doorway’s frame.
“Hold fire, Commander! Hold fire,” he shouted and was surprised at how calm his voice sounded. “It's Lieutenant Kostek, sir. Marines, Bravo company.”
“Kostek?” A moment of silence followed. “Show me your cube, Kostek. Nice and slow, hear? Unless you want new holes stamped into your face.”
Mat took a deep breath. Stay cool. It's cool. A vision of heat rounds leaving his face a perforated, smoking ruin did little to calm his frayed nerves. Slowly he stepped into the open with his hands out wide, rifle barrel pointing at the ceiling. His free hand dug for his Fleet cube and he tossed it at the wary commander’s feet.
Without taking her eyes, or her pistol, off him, she sank down and snatched up the cube, a small thing of a size with a large marble. Rising she pinched its sides and a three-dimensional holographic image sprang to life in the air, slowly revolving. It was a detailed bust of Mat with all his relevant information scrolling to one side, height and weight, eye color, where he was born, his complete service record, achievements and medals, everything since the day he was born.
Her steely eyes studied the life-like image, scanning the words, darting to Mat then back. After a few tense moments in which Mat wasn't sure whether she would try to kill him again or not, she visibly relaxed, straightened, and lowered her pistol.
“Why are you here, lieutenant?” Her voice was a hoarse rasp like dry leaves rustling over old leather, but her eyes were hard as black gemstones. They watched him closely. “I thought everyone was dead. The Squids are everywhere. Cost me two companies of the navy’s finest to get here.”
Mat nodded. He understood completely. “Same here, commander. I'm all that's left of my company and the Squids keep coming.” He’d killed so many that he lost count after a hundred. That was hours ago. He started to ask for a sitrep, but the words dried in his throat.
Something was wrong.
The commander was acting strange, all fidgety, eyes shifting to the side as if drawn to something behind her. He kept his face smooth, but his instincts were screaming, and his trigger finger itching. She’d asked why he was here, now he wondered the same of her. What was she doing at that terminal when he first arrived? It was an effort to keep his voice cool. His fingers tightened on his rifle’s grip. Was she the betrayer? Was that why she fired at him? It could be? Maybe.
“Where is the captain?” he asked, ready to swing his rifle up and blast her into the next life. “Is Fleet sending reinforcements?” He watched for even the barest twitch of a lip, the slightest lifting of a brow when he mentioned Fleet. Nothing. The woman was carved from stone.
“Captain Tressk is dead.” She grimaced at the truth. “Cut down by the Squids. Blown out into the final chill along with the last of our troops when a bulkhead lost containment. I barely survived.” She spit on the deck to emphasize her disgust. “That was an hour ago. You're the first friendly I've seen since.” She looked at him sharply as if just remembering something. “You never answered my question. Why are you here?”
“I could ask the same of you, commander.” His voice was venomous and he didn't bother to hide it. Only the slightest whisper of doubt kept him from killing her. “What were you doing when I walked in?”
Confusion shadowed her face. Then anger. “Carrying out the captain’s final instructions and my duty as first officer.” She lifted her chin like a haughty queen from centuries past. “That is what I was doing, lieutenant. Not that it's any concern of yours.” She jerked her head toward the starboard bulkhead. “As for your reinforcements, they're not coming. There is a Squid battle group out there. They have us surrounded. Every other ship in Echo Fleet has been reduced to clouds of drifting debris. We are surrounded, hopelessly outnumbered, most of the crew are dead. There’s no escape. No hope.” She stopped for a moment and her eyes bore into him. “If you’re here to stop me you’re too late.”
Mat thought he saw a brief flicker of misery darken her features, but when he looked again she was stone. Stop her from what? He was about to ask her just that and how she had miraculously managed to escape the hull breach when something behind her caught his eye.
The holo screen was counting down: Thirty-three seconds, thirty-two, and so on.
“What the hell is that?” he demanded, pointing his rifle at the holo screen as they locked eyes. Thirty.
The commander drew herself up. The hand holding her pistol twitched. “I’ve activated the ship’s self-destruct sequence, lieutenant.” Her voice was flat, resigned, and emotionless. “It's the final protocol in the event a capital ship might fall into enemy hands. We are alone. Fleet is not coming. Our comms were damaged before a message could be sent. Couldn’t be done remotely either.”
Twenty-five.
Her dark eyes studied him for a moment, then seemed to soften. “The escape system experienced catastrophic damage, too. We were fucked from the start.”
Twenty…
His first reaction, through the shock and rising anger, was to demand she stop that shit right fucking now! Who the hell did she think she was to decide this for the both of them? Breathe, breathe. Then rational thought took over, the red haze lifted from his eyes, and he understood the necessity. He didn't like it, hated it, hated her and the Squids and the whole God damn war. But he understood the necessity of what she had done. It was even poetic in a way. A blaze of glory like in the old texts. A blaze like a small supernova that would annihilate the surrounding Squid fleet. It was brilliant. He hated her for it.
Fifteen…
Duty, honor; they were heavy as a mountain. Eirene, my love. Regret weighed down his heart like an anchor. I’m a soldier. Soldiers die. A heartbeat later he accepted his fate with a grudging nod.
“Well,” he said. “I can’t think of a better fuck you to all the squids out there than riding the supernova that sends them to hell.”
“Indeed.” Her stony face finally cracked, a crooked smile that tugged up at one side of her mouth. Moisture glistened in her eyes. “Fitting justice that we drag them to hell with us, yes? Though small consolation.”
Mat said nothing.
Justice, he thought with more than a little bitterness. There was no fucking justice here. Else why was he about to die on a ship surrounded by a bunch of fucking Squids in the middle of the barren stretch? Instead of at home in his bed beside his wife at the ripe old age of a hundred and fifty? No, there was no justice. Justice had forsaken them long ago. I'm a soldier.
Mat’s rifle clattered on the steel floor. So this is how it ends? Fuck.
Ten…
Nine…
Commander Dollard was watching him. “I'm sorry lieutenant.” She looked away as a tear broke free and rolled down her cheek.
He waved her words away. It didn't matter. This wasn't her fault. She didn't want to be here anymore than he did, maybe less.
Mat fell back against the cold steel wall, swallowing hard, pulling off his helmet, and fighting down the nauseating terror that had seized his heart. He was going to die. He was a soldier. He was going to die.
Courage, Mat. Courage. There was no stopping it, there was no denying it. In a few moments, his story would end here in this barren stretch of no-name space. And for what? He’d always thought his death would come suddenly in some battle without time for fear or regret. But standing here now, watching the agonizing countdown to his demise, utterly flogged him. The universe and all its countless masses would go on without Mat Fortis. He tried to imagine not being here. Would anyone notice their absence? Would they care?
Sudden panic gripped his chest, hot and sharp, followed by impotent rage at the injustice of it all. Fear. Terrible fear like a black mist swirling in his heart. He was a soldier. I'm a soldier. Everyone dies.
His only regret was that he would never see his beloved wife again.
Eirene, my love, my life. Would that things could be different. I want so badly to see your face. To taste your lips. Breathe in the scent of your hair, of you. Lay with your head on my chest while we doze in the sunlight. One last goodbye... my friend, my wife. I'll love you forever.
He fixed an image of Eirene’s smiling face in his mind, a radiant memory from his last rotation home. They were on a sun-drenched beach in Baia Do Sancho. Gulls cried and wheeled overhead in a crystalline sky and the ocean purred in the background. Her eyes were luminous blue in the sunlight, like flawless gems of infinite facets full of love and dancing with laughter, gloriously alive. Golden tresses framed the delicate curves of her face in lustrous waves spilling past her shoulders and down her back. The sunshine glittered there. She whispered I love you and he smiled.
Mat clung to that memory as though it were a life preserver and he was a man tossed about in a thrashing sea.
Five…
He pulled out a pack of NicStiks, shook one out, and fired it up, pulling deeply on the smoke until the coal glowed brilliant scarlet.
“Wife made me quit years ago. Always kept a pack just in case. Y’know?”
The commander nodded. “She will forgive you this one I think.” A sudden laugh burst through her tears.
Three…
“But those things will kill you.”
Two…
Mat laughed and tears stained his cheeks. “Yea,” he said and took another long drag on the smoke, tilting his back against the wall and closing his eyes, savoring the pleasant burn in his lungs. “But who wants to live forever?”
One...
His last thought before a blinding flash of heat carried him into darkness, was his wife’s name.
Eirene.

Hi folks, I just wanted to show you my honour run highlights, this was my 6th attempt after finishing the game with custom Tav on tactitian. My builds were not min maxed, but since I've already finished the game, I new what spells to prepare for most encounters, but sometimes even that was risky. I did all the bosses, even optional ones and fought the 3 Thorm siblings, as I felt very confident in my party.
I hope you enjoy it!

• [ ] My party consisted of Gale origin Evocation Wizard 12, Shadowheart light cleric 12, Astarion 12 Swords Bard with dual Crossbows later with Gorn Mael or whatever is the Steel Titan Longbow called, Lae'Zel Paladin of Vengeance 12. I stuck with these four for all fights, except the Minsc sidequest, where I swapped SH with Jaheira Moon Druid for flavor.
• [ ] Spells that have been MVP throught all acts: Blindness, Slow, Grease, Command, Warding Bond, Glyph of Warding(Sleep type), Ice Storm, Evard's Black Tentacles, Hold Person/Monster, Dominate Person, Planar Binding, Telekinesis, Daylight, Confusion, Conjure Elementals (minor and normal)
• [ ] Items MVP: Elixir of Vigilance (can't stress how good this is), Elixirs of Resistance, Oils of Accuracy, all types of AoE Scrolls
• [ ] Gale has been the Crowd Control God, Shadowheart has been buffing and debuffing and using scrolls, Astarion and Lae'Zel were killing all the baddies.

Act 1:

• [ ] Mostly carefree, except I befriended the hyenas by mistake and they killed the Zhentarim, so I talked to them and by mistake again... angered them and fought them unprepared almost ending the run, but Lae'zel managed to get god rolls and finished the boss alone from almost full hp.
• [ ] Apart from that, everything else was going good and by plan, I did all the act 1 bosses and I was prepared with spells and potions and oils, the main thing I bought from vendors was Elixirs and scrolls, so I can get the upper hand on each boss fight.

Act 2:

• [ ] Went into Shadowfell geared to the teeth, Grym heavy armor for SH (took HA feat) and LaeZel with creche GS from the girl with the two wolves and another pair of the same heavy armor, it was a cake again, all fights were quite easy with paladin and cleric, you know the drill.
• [ ] Balthazar was killed in his own little room by me, cause fighting near Aylin was not in my favor and it felt risky, so I kicked his ass earlier.
• [ ] Convinced Ketheric to sacrifice himself, game crashed at intro cinematic of Myrkyl, reloaded and I failed persuasion check, so I fought Kethric.. it was quite tough, but LZ and Aylin smited both him and Myrkyl to oblivion. Everyone else was on add/support duty.

Act 3:

• [ ] This is where it got interesting, did all the sidequests without bosses, as I wanted to level up and I was about to do Ansur for first time, I've missed him in all of my playthroughs...
• [ ] As you guessed, even tho I examine and read boss abilities and stats, I wasn't sure I understood the mechanic fully, but I guessed it was with the crystals around, but I couldn't cope fast enough to kill him before he got to destroy all crystals... so he was at 277 hp and I dashed to the door and Dimention Doored to the door and I was safe almost all attacks (Yess!!), but I had no idea how to proceed. I spend several rounds healing up with potion throwing and buffed whatever I could while dodging lightning circle, then I just went all in after his large wipespell, smite, smite, spells, crits. I was lucky there was no another wipespell and I managed to off him in two rounds... surprise, surprise, he got 100 shield at 1 hp and did wipespell. I had nowhere to hide, so... I faced it like a man, shadowheart survived due to lightling resist elixir and killed him, since shield is removed at start of next round and she had more initiative.. my heart was beating like hell and the loot was worth it!
• [ ] Another boss I never killed was Mystic Carrion, I found his liver and brain in the sewers and destroyed them immediately, and to my surprise when I went to meet him, he attacked me on sight... so I had to run for my life and reset combat, because I saw I need to kill his heart first by examining, so I sneaked in with greater invisibility, found out about thrumbo and he rest is cake, boss went down in one round and the adds were not a problem after.
• [ ] Raphael was no problem, I managed to win the commander's persuasion check and he tanked a lot of hits and made the fight easier, force damage and icy floor for the win. What is better than a devil you know? Devil prone on an icy floor!
• [ ] Viconia, mind sanctuary + black hole + heavy AoE + mind blast and the fight was over in two rounds, Gale was half-ilithid, because astral powers are so overpowered in my opinion
• [ ] Cazador was turned into a clown on the dance floor - Daylight sphere + Otto dance moves + Sleet Storm.
• [ ] Orin was hard because she hits like a truck, but manageable, thunderweave and arrows of thunder were lifesavers for the adds, Dominate Person on one of the adds with high initiative took care of her legendary riposte (god bless high initiative!!)
• [ ] Ethel almost wiped me, but somehow I bounced back and won with two down, just good rolls after clearing the shrooms and arrows of many targets from laezel and astarion took care of every clone.
• [ ] Sarevok was 1v1ed by Lae'Zel while the other three smashed his 3 lovers, door was arcane locked (i'd be crazy not to lock it)
• [ ] Steel Titan was such a slog, not hard, but slog due to the defensive bulwark.
• [ ] Gortash was no trouble after two chain lightnings on the mechs.
• [ ] Netherbrain was okay with all the allies as filler, the brain itself died in two rounds.

And that's it, almost ate Minsc brain in reunion, but I passed that con check and went on with my illithid life with waifu Selunite Shadowheart.

I am a first-time writer, I've taken on a creative project to try to write a full novel from front to back. I am around nine chapters in, the deeper the chapter, the more unpolished the editing. The Book Writing Project can be found: here.

BOOK 1 SUMMARY WITH GRAPHICS

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DEADCOAST-INTRO #

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“Deadcoast Book 1: Heat and the Grizzly Reds” transports readers to a 2063 Earth, a world on the brink, where the scarcity of fresh water has led to previously unseen geopolitical tensions. Amidst this backdrop, the nation-backed militant group DAGGR has emerged as a formidable force, leveraging advanced technology to assert control over Canada’s abundant water resources. At the heart of their arsenal is ‘slugTech,’ a technology pioneered by James Broadshaw, intended for ecological restoration but repurposed for militaristic dominance.
The story unfolds with the chilling invasion of Vancouver, marking a turning point as DAGGR makes its ambitions clear, culminating in the assassination of the Canadian Prime Minister. This act of aggression leaves the country reeling, exposing vulnerabilities and igniting a global reaction.
The UNE-EYE satellite is central to the international response, a significant narrative element representing the world’s most advanced orbital tracking system. Once decommissioned in favour of privacy, the Dutch reactivated the satellite as a strategic move to monitor DAGGR’s movements and coordinate a unified international effort against the aggressors. This revival of UNE-EYE symbolizes a crucial turning point, highlighting the global stakes and the interconnectedness of nations in the face of a common enemy.
As Canada grapples with its plight, the DAMU (Deserted American Military Units) rise in solidarity, breaching borders to fight alongside their Canadian counterparts. This act of defiance is mirrored by international forces, including the Netherlands and Ukraine, each bringing their unique strengths to the coalition, underscored by the strategic oversight provided by the UNE-EYE satellite.
Amidst the geopolitical chaos, a man who had all but given up, a boxer on the ropes, emerges from Vancouver’s Gastown. Known as HEAT, this leader of the Grizzly Reds becomes a symbol of resistance and hope. HEAT’s story, and that of the Grizzly Reds, is one of resilience, rallying not only Canadians but also global citizens to stand against DAGGR’s tyranny.
“Deadcoast Book 1: Heat and the Grizzly Reds” is a compelling narrative of survival, alliance, and resistance. It deftly weaves elements of advanced technology, international politics, and the indomitable human spirit. The inclusion of the UNE-EYE satellite serves as a testament to the complexities of modern warfare and the critical role of global surveillance and coordination in maintaining security and freedom. But something else stirs amongst it. The UNE still shrouds its use, albeit assuring it is for record-keeping purposes- there is no way to be sure. Join HEAT and the Grizzly Reds as they navigate the challenges of Time, War, Science and liberating their fellow man in Vancouver. THE GRIZZLIES NEED YOU, in this action-packed, emotional saga, speaks to the resilience and camaraderie inherent in the human condition.
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DEADCOAST-SUMMARY-ILLUSTRATED #

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THE YEAR IS 2063
In a future world plagued by scarcity and desperation, DAGGR, a shrouded nation-funded militant group, emerges as a significant player. They focus on Canada, a land rich in the most valuable resource left on Earth: fresh water. DAGGR, a state-of-the-art military faction, features boat hulls fitted with tech from forgotten scientists, silenced for their discoveries out of fear, not fortune. The DAGGR technology, originally known as ‘slugTech,’ was a technological marvel in 3 breakthroughs. 1. Quantum Computing, 2. Data Compression, 3. Power Generation. ‘slugTech,’ created by a young Canadian Scientist ‘James Broadshaw’ 30 years earlier, was a true innovation. James created the slugs to heal, to help. The slugs were a 360-degree plan to encapsulate the earth in self-repairing atmospheric “slug swarms.” A self-repairing Global Bandaid. The project’s potential caused widespread alarm among the Need-to-know world leaders. Just like that, the slugTech was delegated and prohibited at the highest level of classification: TWA Technology. A Total World Annihilation Classification.’ slugTech was shrouded in secrecy and hidden to avoid events like the ones to come. No trace of James Broadshaw has been seen or heard from 19 years ago. Today, DAGGR approaches with an abomination tainting James’ legacy.
DAGGR’s innovation extended beyond self-repairing hulls. It involved trillions of quantum scale molecules, a new man-made molecule reactive to electric currents, programable to scale, to human eyes — A manifestation of slimy consistent liquid. The Molecules, capable of constructing honeycombing at a microscopic level, chains of strength tested by time in Darwin's evolution. The honeycomb is fine-tuned to absorb, create, repair, and discard. It scatters in and out of vision like a hive, moving as if bleeding while discarding its damaged former molecular brethren. Adversaries dubbed them M’YASNI HOLOVY, aka MEAT HEADS. This was just a taste of what DAGGR had to offer, the tip of the military iceberg. This tech alone was thought of only in science and prototyping. But DAGGR’s mission was not solely about military prowess. It was about unlocking new Technological Marvels via destruction and power, paving the way for swift world domination.
And so…
The enigma persists: who was DAGGR, and how did they outpace the world’s best? This Faction, a force to be reckoned with, traces its strength back to ancient times when men spoke a forgotten tongue. The Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, the Vikings, and the great philosophers of Greece. Structuring their Military ranks as the Roman Legion once did was a cusp to dawn the new Legionaries. The mystery of their origins and ability to surpass the world’s best is a puzzle that continues to intrigue and confound.
— -
Under the veil of fireworks on Canada Day, a sinister plot unfolds as the then-unknown (DAGGR) assailant assassinates the Canadian Prime Minister. Chaos ensues as the highest echelons of the government are either eliminated or driven into hiding, leaving a power vacuum in their wake.
The world is shocked by the unveiling of DAGGR and its sudden, unprovoked invasion of Vancouver.
“As the DAGGRS military might descend upon Vancouver, the world watches in stunned silence. It was Canada…Who dared with The United States so close? So intertwined?”
The countries almost became One after the American Water Crisis. The United States, with all its power and might, could not battle the grim reality of a dry well — that is until the Canadians intervened.
During the 2043 American water crisis (due to overpopulation), Most of the world clung to its Dwindling supplies. Canada and Russia were becoming vastly wealthy nations with vastly different ideals. Each harnesses 89% of the natural water left on Earth between them.
Canada, NOTWITHSTANDING, fiscally bankrupted its country, sending trillions in drinkable, H2O aid to the impossible, seemingly unquenchable thirst of the American Populace. The talks of liquid gold had come to pass. Most of Canada’s still bountiful glacial runoffs prove vital for its controlled population.
Canada, its citizens, and its shield were dedicated to ensuring the safety and survival of their American counterparts. The Canadian Nation essentially shut down for three months, pivoting all infrastructure to aid RED BLEED BLUE.
Operation “Red Bleed Blue”
Canada suspended its airspace for three months. It took control of all aircraft with two wings and an engine in its flying zones, including small planes in the east, seaplanes in the west, and Inuit icebreakers in the north. All international pilots were required to join the effort or relinquish their respective companies’ aircraft temporarily. Airspace clearance was strictly controlled from coast to coast. Natural spring pools near the Canadian borders were donated to help the United States immediately by providing a pumpable source close to the border. This was a Canadian-led coalition to support its loyal allies in the south; the world, inspired by the Northern Nation, came together to offer overwhelming manpower support. As a result of this effort, America’s recovery operation was streamlined, ensuring a full economic and strategic recovery. These events immeasurably further strengthened the bond between Canada and the United States. In exchange for steady water supplies, America would provide permanent military incorporation to Canada, making Canada’s young and too optimistically forward-thinking leaders believe there was no need for an underfunded, rudimentary Canadian military.
The Canadian Military was Designed to be an operational elite force of cutting-edge units. Some soared above in the skies with the eagles; some stared through scopes at their prey miles away, and some lived at the depths of the ocean’s crust, researching the next edge. It wasn’t a large force but a technologically forward one. The Canadian Military, all Research projects and its personnel are cut overnight.
Aside from these events and the Sacrifices of the North, it wasn't enough when Canada’s time of need came.
The US finds itself handcuffed by a technological marvel of DAGGR Faction ingenuity — the “C2c,” a super bomb designed not for destruction but to hinder AI in Machines. This leaves America’s Technological might and size paralyzed, unable to intervene without risking its national security. The closure of borders and refusal to accept Canadian refugees ignite riots within the U.S.; the Americans take to Social news outlets, and these phrases take hold;
“BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER.”WE REMEMBER:”
Freedom fighters awaken in their populace, not for themself, but for the Canadian Citizens so much like their own. They are the DAMU.
As the American people grapple with their government’s inaction. Militant groups, mostly “Deserted American Military Units” or “DAMU,” rip open their border gates.
The DAMU march to Seattle, where they are openly greeted, shown, and instructed on how to broadcast nationally by the Local News Agencies. It would seem the want, the need to help was not just limited to those that can fight. The DAMU, with the help of the Media, both left and right, was broadcasted, Unified, Nationally, Globally.
“*WE WILL COME TO THE AID OF THE NORTH. WE ARE THE DAMU. WE CALL ANY TRAINED MILITANT OF AMERICA. IT IS IN OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO DEFEND OUR FAMILY, OUR NEIGHBOURS, OUR FRIENDS WHO SACRIFICED FOR US IN THE NORTH. IF YOU ARE TRAINED, YOU ARE DAMU, AND THIS IS YOUR FIGHT. LEST WE FORGET THE THIRST OF THE CRISIS? OUR BLOOD IS TO THE TRUE NORTHERN SACRIFICES IN OUR TIME OF NEED. WE MARCH FOR VANCOUVER AT DAWN. WE MARCH– WE FIGHT; IF YOU WISH TO JOIN US, ALL TRAVEL WILL BE COMPENSATED TO SEATTLE. DIAL ‘#FIGHT’ (‘#34448’)*”
DAMU CONVOY MARCH TO ZERO BEACH, VANCOUVER, BC.
They demanded their own smaller(than the now 400-strong DAMU) national guard units lower their weapons or fire on them(DAMU), but they sure as hell weren’t going to do anything while the Civilians in the North were openly Slaughtered. The UNE-EYE(A world Monitoring Mega Satellite Structure provided a Full Scope, degree stream of the invasion, live as it unfolded. The DAMU were fired up and ready for what may come after witnessing the atrocities on civilians in the violent invasion. The border forces subtly obliged; they didn’t want to be there either. A small sign of humanity, a small flame doused by the arrival of the entire American border forces not a day later. The DAMU militants crossed the border into the grey. If the government wasn’t going to, the American people were. Despite the political constraints, there’s an undercurrent of hope and solidarity among the American populace, a belief that their Canadian kin won’t be trounced so easily — they are Northmen: Strong, Weathered, Proud. The Canadians will buy themselves enough time to allow the American people to mobilize independently. Riot or Revolution- Canada will not be abandoned in their darkest hour.
— -
Amidst this international turmoil, a forgotten ally rekindles an old bond. The Netherlands, moved by the atrocities and recalling a debt from a world’s past, announces a Declaration of War that is both Swift and Symbolic. In a historic gesture, 10,000 dead tulips are sent to DAGGR’s “SUNKEN CITIES.” Not underwater, but an alias for their innovative creation of continental Landmasses in the Pacific Dark Zones. It is a grim reminder of the Dutch’s loyal tenacity, bond to lives lost, and vow to honour past sacrifices from Forgotten World Quarrels. The Dutch mobilize their military for an operation named “Vrijheid” — a phrase that means freedom, a principle they’re determined to uphold.
The Dutch Royal family, with ties to Canada dating back to World War II, leads the charge. Princess Margriet’s Direct Descendant, Halifax van Royal(“Royal,” a warrior title replacing his traditional royal Surname ‘Orange Nassau.’ The Highest Honor in the Dutch Military Elite), a symbol of the enduring bond between the two nations, reignites his family’s commitment; a vow from a different time, violence born of a different struggle, the Canadians once Liberated Dutch lands from tyrants, and he would vow to return that very same favour.
During their(Dutch Royalty) refugee status in World War II, Princess Margaret van Orange Nassau sought asylum in Canada’s parliament. Canada even temporarily granted parts of their “Dutch soil” land so Margaret’s children could be born officially on Dutch Lands. As a boy, Halifax’s family passed down stories of the Fateful days of the great struggle, generation to generation; the stories passed off tongues as the test of time-shifted legacies and gifted life. The gratitude survived the tests, the sands of time– about the days the Canadians arrived. The day they roared into Holland ferociously, battling the Occupying Nazis and expelling them from household to household, driving them from city to city, until the Netherlands was once again a free reign. Canadians sacrificed to save Holland’s people Halfway Across the World in a war that wasn’t theirs. Halifax was determined to honour this Sacrifice.
Halifax, infuriated by the atrocities streamed by the UNE-EYE(World Surveillance), personally promises his “Korps Commandotroepen (KCT)” to liberate one Canadian town for each of the 8,000 Canadian soldiers buried on Dutch soil, a tribute to the heroes who helped liberate Holland during the war. Before a full hour passed in the Canadian invasion.
Korps Commandotroepen — KCT(English: Commando Corps) is the elite special forces unit of the Royal Netherlands Army. The KCT traces its origins to the Second World War with the founding of №2 (Dutch) Troop.
The royal family pulled in generational favours to the powers of the U.N.E.(The United Nations of Europe.) to recommission its Mega Structure Satellite, the once intrusive World Eye. A Satellite can find almost anything, anywhere, at face-recognizing precision. A mother to a web of smaller surveillance satellites, it could track a fly in the desert. For the first time in 7 years, the UNE-EYE was back and operational, fully utilizing its global tracking and orbital streaming system.
The world’s state-of-the-art orbital tracking system. It was mainly decommissioned to search and rescue after the global privacy initiative before being wholly outlawed and shut down a few years later. The power of the Mob and privacy were prime.
Unbeknownst to Canadians, the world was watching their struggle, fight, and determination.
As the world watched on, it burst into flames. Inspired by everyday Canadians’ hearts in their battle against torrential odds, their hearts, minds and souls felt for them and prayed for them. Every denomination, religious alignment, and political authority seemed to unite under one banner; “how can we help the Canadians?” Politics ensued as the world's populace helplessly watched as Canada burned.
With Halifax leading the Efforts, The reality of warfare and logistics proved to be a daunting challenge. Despite the royal efforts, including setting up refugee centers in various locations and sending evacuation ships to Newfoundland, Halifax(the Canadian Province), and Montreal, the Dutch faced an uphill battle against time and dwindling resources.
Meanwhile, another unexpected ally emerges from the East. Ukraine, forged in the fires of conflict and struggle, remembers Canada’s aid during its decade-long fight for independence.
Canada was there, officially or unofficially, for all ten years. The arrival of the Ukrainian flagship, ZELENSKY II, bearing the flag “UTF-FLR.’’ followed by a new garrison name, “UKRAINIAN TASKFORCE — FOREIGN LEGIONS REVENGE,” an homage to the INTERNATIONAL CANADIAN LEGION forces that fought for Ukraine and the brave Canadian JTF-2 “12 of Hope” a unit shrouded in secrecy and anonymity until then. Their actions shattered their veiled secrecy. It’s hard to stay hidden when you disobey direct orders to liberate half a Ukranian city. Saving hundreds of thousands of civilians, throwing their lives on the line in the process, losing six members, and igniting the Ukrainian Civilians they were trying to rescue. Elite soldiers and Ukrainian civilians alike, side by side, fighting for survival. With its golden yellow hull and blue stripes, the Zelenskyy ii signals a new chapter in this unfolding saga. The UKRAINIAN TASKFORCE — FOREIGN LEGIONS REVENGE.
Hope.
However, tragedy strikes as the Zelensky II falls victim to DAGGR’S C2c weapon. Rendered immobile, a sitting duck in open harbours. A low rumble flies ahead, eight engines grown on a mammoth aircraft dawning the letters ‘SPIT FLARE.’ As their bomber flies overhead, Canadians watch in horror from the beach; a small black dot falls slowly from the craft above, and with a flash of white, the Zelenskyy II vaporizes.
The “Small Bang” bomb, as DAGGR calls it, is the rapid spinning of plasma in a small diameter, increasing and accelerating its speed until the molecules in the plasma begin to flare outwards in a disc formation, stretching their fabric in the very space-time itself, expanding, thinning and super-heating the plasma to sub-molecular level, then rapidly infusing the process with oxygen and at the same speed decelerating it completely. The molecules super-compress, contract, and expand explosively. It would almost seem modelled as the same process of creating the universe. In its current state, it reaches temperatures close to the sun. The bomb resulted in the loss of 180,000 lives and shattered the morale of those waiting for evacuation on the Atlantic Shore.
The NORTHERN DAGGR forces, failing to enter through the Arctic, encounter resistance from the “Canadian Shield,” the formidable natural defences of the North. DAGGR is stopped in their tracks. With the invading forces, there is a new All-in focus on Vancouver for its strategic ports and supply lines. However, the Atlantic side of Canada succumbs to fear tactics, with the evacuation efforts ceasing after the destruction of the Zelensky II.
Amidst the challenging times, a hero unexpectedly rises from the ashes of Gastown in Vancouver. Known by the code name HEAT, Ryan emerges as a symbol of hope and resistance.
HEAT becomes the founder and leader of the Grizzly Reds, a resistance group that plays a pivotal role in igniting the spirit of defiance across Canada. Their true origin is rooted in the Red Brick Road incident, a gruesome act of violence by the DAGGR FACTION to enact fear in the uprising. This heinous act catalyzes HEAT and gives a new birth to the Grizzly Reds, a symbol of Canadian tenacity and the fight for freedom.
The Grizzlies are known for their guerrilla “Roar and Move” Tactic, which strategically surrounds their militia unit around a target. The streets are that of the grizzlies; it's their hunting grounds, homes, and native streets they know best: Zero Beach, Gastown, Vancouver, Canada. The Grizzlies exchange Roars one by one around their target as if banshees transcending physical barriers— haunting, taunting their prey. Their unbreakable spirit inspires a global movement to rise up.
Across the border, Americans, forming the DAMU(DESERTED AMERICAN MILITARY UNIT), flock to the Seattle coast and organize the march to Zero Beach. True to their word, the Dutch include the ‘Vrijheid’ Garrison, comprising military personnel who volunteer to fight for Canada’s liberation, commanded by the elite Korps Commandotroepen (KCT).
The story of HEAT and the Grizzly Reds is a powerful reminder of humanity’s unyielding resilience in the face of adversity. It speaks to the deep-seated desire for justice and compassion that runs through our veins and the unwavering commitment to our fellow human beings.

• JOIN HEAT AND THE GRIZZLY REDS AS THEY FIGHT TO LIBERATE VANCOUVER IN THIS ACTION PACKED EMOTIONAL DRAMA.
• JOIN THE FIGHT
• JOIN THE RESISTANCE

WHERE WERE YOU THE DAY CANADA WAS INVADED?

I can buy the depth of Choso's relationship with Yuji for several reasons, despite the fact that not too much time has been spent on it. A commenter on a different thread said they didn't understand the relationship and compared it to Sasuke and Naruto's weird ass hard-to-believe brotherhood that went on for many more chapters. I think the Yuji-Choso relationship is more nuanced, and ultimately, far more beautiful.
Yuji is somebody who knows next to nothing about his past or who he is. He is an orphan, and the man that raised him died when he was 16. Yuji has one imperative: to save others, but despite this, a lot of people he cares about as well as innocent bystanders have died because his life (which he has no reason to believe means anything to anyone) was spared.
Yuji's fight with Choso brings him to death's door, because Choso is fighting with the venom that only the love for family can imbue in somebody - and Yuji knows it, because he has the blood of Choso's brothers on his hands.
Choso spares his life because he realizes Yuji and him have the same thread connecting them that connected him to his death painting brothers, and is thrown into upheaval.
After all of this - Yuji has to immediately watch Sukuna torch all of Shibuya with his body, then watch Mahito kill Nanami and Nobara. One of his best friends, and his mentor figure.
Choso's arrival amidst the chaos and grief, and immediate display of loyalty to Yuji comes off as a bit of a shock. Choso is dead sure that Yuji is kin, and nothing else matters to him except that.
Yuji is confused, but there are bigger problems to deal with - and he's not about to refuse help from a powerful new ally.
Choso explains that Yuji's parent probably had stitches on his head, but Yuji doesn't understand the significance of this fact. However, Choso subsequently continues his ride or die behaviour by saving Yuji from an assasination attempt - which plants the seed for Yuji that blood or not, Choso is his older brother because he has decided to be.
And then when Yuta KOs him, Yuji has the "babies are more perceptive than we think" flashback and realizes Kenjaku is his mom.
Yuji realizes the difference between kin and friendship at this point, and affirms Choso's connectoin to him. After this, Yuji always calls Choso his brother. Choso lives for this brotherhood and nothing else, but still stays back with Yuki to aid in his brother's plan - and get a chance at exacting revenge on their father who is the source of their torment.
This is when Yuki gives Choso permission to live, and makes him realize that his bond with his brothers and with Yuji is what makes him human - giving him the impetus he needs to fully embrace one side of his dual nature as someone born of a curse and a human.
Post this, every interaction between Choso and Yuji has advanced this bond. Choso asks Yuji to consume the other death paintings which is a deeply meaningful act because he sees Yuji as the vessel for the 150 years of kinship he spent with them. Yuji inherits Choso's blood manipulation and surpasses him, as younger brothers are wont to do - and although Choso has a tough time explaining how the technique works, he is able to push his thinking to provide arguably the most crucial piece of advice about this technique, just when it's needed most - when Yuji's RCT fails against Sukuna.
A large part of JJK is about inheriting your loved ones' will and taking it forward to keep their memories alive. And a large part of it is about seniors handing over the torch to the next generation. This transference points to the "eternal" nature of jujutsu sorcerers even despite the impermanence of all things. Todo explains this very well when he comes to save Yuji's ass.

• Grandpa's "curse" to Yuji, Nanami's "curse" to Yuji
• Toji killing his reincarnated self after realizing Megumi has escaped the clutches of the Zenin clan's BS.
• Maki destroying the Zenin's to carry on Mai's will
• Rika letting Yuta's soul go, giving him the choice to live a life free of her influence even though it was his love that cursed her - but literally letting him inherit her will to protect him through a shikigami
• Yuki transferring her will to Choso - Higgy changing his ways through Yuji's example, and sacrificing himself to let Yuji achieve justice.
• Gojo changing his entire philosophy after watching his best friend fall to the dark side
• In some way, grieving the Geto that used to be....and then killing the Geto that was.

By saving Yuji and dying in the process, Choso honours the memories of all his brothers and passes on the torch to him. To Yuji, nothing can be a more complete demonstration of the depths of their bond - these are two brothers who found each other in the depths of despair, and changed their entire outlook on life because of the other's influence.
And now, Yuji has lost the only family he had left.
Well except Sukuna, but you get what I mean.
Todo's arrival, I'll admit, is a bit jarring because there has been no mention of him for hundreds of chapters. In Shibuya, atleast there was some buildup so you knew he was on his way - but I'm going to chalk this up to editorial bullshit. They might not have wanted this much grief in one chapter.
Having said that, Todo's arrival feels like the ghost of your old dog coming back at your beloved dog's funeral to let you know that things are going to be alright now.
If it ends up making sense why he showed up this late - perhaps because of the nerf Mahito imposed on him, or because he was doing some other homework throughout this time - I'm okay with this narrative choice. But I do think the Choso-Yuji relationship has been developed quite well. It isn't a typical relationship between brothers - but it's meaningful and makes sense.

Witty prose from Jan.
Ruddy of face, snowy of hair and thick of calf, the elder Spencers entered the cathedral like a shire farmer and his clan visiting a county fair to give the sugar beets a good old squeeze.
\**
And do you know what? I'm so very glad they were there for him. It's too sad to think of Harry flying over here, fretfully offsetting his carbon footprint, clutching his little box of medals, thrumming his fingers on his temples, his anxiety levels rising as the dog-bowl threat and the road less travelled rise up to meet him yet again.
\**
The Spencers don't have to forgive the Sussexes or accommodate their peeved intransigence or just seethe and suck it up. For Prince Harry has no beef with his Uncle Charles, nor has he ever hoisted his sauceboat of hot sulk to pour the usual grievance gravy over lovely Aunt Jane.
He hasn't accused either of them, or anyone in their immediate family, of being racists, bullies, sneaks, liars and downright stinking rotters. He hasn't trashed them or betrayed them in books, podcasts or on television interviews watched by millions around the world. He hasn't caused reputational damage to their family, like he has elsewhere, ahem.
He even thanked Earl Spencer and Lady Jane in the acknowledgments section of his autobiography, Spare — an honour accorded to absolutely no one in his inner blood circle.
So their support was nice, and so was the small, cheering crowd of blimps who turned up for him, too. Not everyone hates Prince Harry for smearing his family — and by extension the entire country — as a racist backwater full of repressive thickos unable to see the bigger picture or wake up and smell the roses, like him and his sainted wife.
Speaking of which, such a shame that the Duchess of Sussex was not at Harry's side this week, patting him like a puppy as per, holding his hand, sharing in the dim glow of this rare show of public popularity.
Certainly, it is not like Meghan to miss a full on, super-swank opportunity like this; she's usually all over Invictus ceremonies like a regimental mascot on parade. It brings out her inner drum majorette, it gives her a sham regal sheen — so why the unexplained absence?
Spencers or no Spencers, the Duchess hasn't got a proper excuse for avoiding the UK this week and the truth is that she doesn't even need one any more. The cavalry has been and gone, the dust has settled and we all know where we stand.
Next stop, Nigeria. And I simply cannot wait for that.
https://archive.ph/Eu9fC
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/royals/article-13401133/JAN-MOIR-Charles-William-think-Spencers-public-embrace-Harry-cast-cold-unflattering-light.html

1) SHELLY - When she hits an enemy, her next ammo reloads in 1 sec 2)BUSTER - all allies near you get 20% shield 3) GROM - For each target that he hits with his super, he will instantly reload 0.5 ammo. 4) CHESTER - Whoever hits Chester will deal 15% less dmg from their next attack. Their next ammo bar becomes red. 5) El PRIMO (Meteor rain) Every 10 sec he summons a small meteor toward the nearest enemy. That meteor deals 1500 dmg and doesn't destroy walls 6) MR. P - Robo-porters range is 40% longer. 7) JACKY Reloads 10% faster for each enemy within 4.5 tiles radius. 8) NITA'S - When your super is charged you deal +30% dmg. 9) COLTS Bullets can now bounce off walls to the nearest enemy, but they deal 35% less dmg. 10) BYRON - Deals +35% dmg to enemies with charged supers oand Hypercharges 11) When BULL is below 50% hp his range is increased by 35%. 12) DOUG - all allies get a 25% shield when stunned or slowed down, just cuz you have Doug in your team. 13) BROCK'S fire is 25% bigger. 14) BARELY reloads 30% faster when he has no ammo. 15) POCO - Pocos super makes enemies/allies deal 10% less/more dmg for 4 sec. 16) STU - When you dash into your teammates they instantly charge their super by 20% 17) ROSA - All of the bushes near her become poisonous for 10 sec, dealing 250 DPS. 18) JESSIE - She can throw her turret 35% further 19) DYNAMIKE - When his super is charged, his range is increased by 15%. 20) TICK - Head's explosion radius is increased by 35% 21) 8-BIT - if someone kills 8-bit your nearest ally gets 25% more speed for 3sec 22) RICO - Every bullet from his super reduces enemy attack range by 3% for 4 sec. 23) SPROUT - Reload 25% faster when his super is charged. 24) BUZZ - when he kills an enemy, they drop a surfboard that has 2500 hp and works like a body shield. 25) when GUS loses 35% hp he becomes invisible for 1.5 sec. 26) DARRYL - this star power reduces stun durations and the effectiveness of slows by 35% 27)PENNY - her mortar shoots at 2 targets at a time, but it deals half of the dmg 28) CARL - while he is spinning he reflects enemy shots back at them, but he still receives damage. 29) BO - Every 5th attack will drop a mine. He can have up to 4 mines. 30) EMZ - if an enemy stands on her super for more than 3 sec, then he turns into zombie, which means that he will have 5% less hp, damage and speed for 7 sec. 31) PIPER - while she is aiming she gets 25% shield. 32) BIBI - when her home run bar is charged, she automatically, slowly charges her super. 33) PAM - She gets a special bar, that fills up when she deals 5000 dmg. When the bar is full, her next attack stuns enemies by 0.5 sec. 34) FRANK gets a short speed boost, when he hits an enemy. 35) BEA can pierce through up to 2 targets, with her uncharged shot. 36) NANI - she gets a special bar that fills up in 5 sec, when full, her next attack doesn't consume your ammo. 37) BELLE When your ally dies you get a 30% dmg boost for 4 sec. 38) EDGARS you can save up to 3 supers. 39) "I.O.U" GRIFF steals one ammo slot from the first enemy that he hits with his super for 4.5 sec 40) When BONNIE uses her super, she leaves cannon Clyde behind, he goes and attacks enemies. 41) TARAS super spawns a shadow that gives an orb of damage boost that lasts for 3 sec it then follows your allies to give them the same orbs. 42) GALE gives 20% speed boost for 2 sec with his main attack or super to his allies 43) COLETTE - She deals an extra 600 dmg if she hits the same target that she hit with her previous shot. 44) ASH - When he loses 2000 hp, he drops a rat trap behind him. If an enemy steps on it, they get poisoned for 5 sec, dealing 275 dps. 45)While HANK is aiming he shines a red laser, that can go through walls and reveal enemies in bushes and also deals 500 dmg every time someone touches it. The Laser is 4.67 tiles long. 46) LOLA'S ego looks the same as Lola so enemies can't see where the real Lola is. 47) SAM'S knuckles drop to the floor as soon as they hit an enemy 48) CORDELIUS - If an enemy gets in his supercharge radius that enemy won't see if your super is charged and how much health you or your allies have for 5 sec. 49) MAISIE - Maisie is immune to fire and poison damage, by 50% 50) Getting hit by PEARLS cookies stops enemies from reloading their ammo for 0.5 seconds. The duration doesn't stack, but resets if the enemy gets hit multiple times. 51) L&L deals up to 35% dmg to fast enemies based on how fast they are. 52) MORTIS Every 1 sec, he steals 75 health from the enemy's max hp from each enemy for himself within a 5-tile radius. 53) GENE - when your teammate kills an enemy, Gene gets 1 ammo. When Gene kills an enemy, the nearest ally gets 1 ammo. 54) MAX - Allies near her run 20% faster. 55) SQUEAK - Blombs from his super leave a trail of smaller Blombs that deal 1000 dmg 56) LOU when he dies, he becomes an ice block, with 3000 hp. If no one destroys it in 3 sec, then you will survive with 50% hp. 57) MICO - His super charges 25% faster. 58) RUFFS - When you pick up the Ruffs medal, you are immune to stuns, slows and knockbacks for 1 time. 59) FANG super can knock back enemies. 60) EVE when her super is charged she heals herself 250 hp per sec. 61) JANET - Bomds from her super set the floor on fire for 3 sec. 62) OTIS - "Painted Frame" - After the disability effect the enemy's field of view is decreased by 20% for 7 sec. 63) GRAY - When someone hits Gray, he instantly shoots back at them, dealing 700 dmg if it hits. 64) R-T His shots can bounce from enemy to enemy (like Jessies attack), but it only leaves a mark. 65) ANGELO - Every 10 sec he spawn two mosquitos that attack enemies. They have 700 hp and deal 700 dmg. 66) WILLOW - if you missed your super you instantly get 35% super back. 67) CHUCK - He gets a 30% shield for 3 sec, when he defeats a brawler. 68) CHARLIE gets a 30% speed boost for 3 sec when she kills an enemy. 69) SPIKE - his attack flies with 15% more speed. 70) Crow Crows Super permanently removes 15% of maximum health from enemies 71) MELODY - She can have 4th note spinning around her. 72) LEON - When he is invisible, he can walk through 1 tile of wall or one bullet. 73) SANDY is invisible when standing behind walls. 74) AMBER - When her ammo bar is 50% empty she runs 20% faster. 75) MEG - Meg's Mecha's Super is different. She throws a rolling barrel (rolls for 7 tiles) that knocks back enemies and deals 10000 damage. The barrel also blocks enemies attack while rolling. 76) SURGE - his main attack splits with 25% wider spread. 77) KIT - Kit gets a 50% shield when attached to the enemy. 78) Lily - She deals 300 dps to the enemies inside her trait.