Retirement speech for boss ample

Most of you are probably already aware of this theory. It has been around for years. The great twist of Yandere Simulator will be the reveal that Megami and Ayano are sisters.
This had been a widly accepted theory since the release of Megami's first design, back when she still had black hair. Her design at the time was extremely similar to Kill la Kill character, Satsuki Kiryun. For those who are unaware, Satsuki is the main antagonist of the anime, and the president of the student council the protagonist attends. The plot twist of the anime is that she is the protagonist's sister.
Considering Alex knows about Kill la Kill, as proven by several easter eggs, it's likely he decided to use the same plot twist for Yandere Simulator. Megami's design was changed to not give it away immediatly, but of course, Alex couldn't keep his damn mouth shut, so there are many, MANY details that confirm this theory. I said details ? I should have said pages.
However, I feel like a lot of people are glossing over many details about this theory, and have many misconceptions about it. Notably, about how Megami and Ayano are related. So I decided to give my own theory, including all the... uh... subtle evidences we get in the game.
Crazy Grandpa master plan
No need to beat around the Saikou family's bush (or should I say tree, wink wink), you probably know about the Saikou Grandpa eugenics tendencies. His goal is to create the perfect human being, and he plans on using that by acheving the perfect combination of genetics.
So you might not know about this, but there are two major theories about the development of an individual. It's nature against nurture. Is an individual as he is because he was born this way, or because he grew to be this way. Is a person a blank slate at birth, or is their individuality already present from birth. This plays into determinism, I won't go into more details for a Yandere Simulator dumb theory, but you can look it up if you're interested.
So, to go back to Crazy Grandpa, he was probably on the side of nature at first. He only reproduced after he found the perfect wife, as he didn't want his gene pool to be "tainted", going as far as to DNA her on random shit. How did he DNA test her in the 60s is anyone's guess but let's move on.
The result were two children, Ichiko and Ichirou. Ichiko was raised rather normally, and ended up leaving the Saikou family as she didn't want to become the CEO. Crazy Grandpa saw it as the failure of his belief in nature, and decided to switch to nurture with Ichiro.
So Ichirou was raised with high expectations, to the point he acted like a robot, but Crazy Grandpa was very proud about what he had become.

Saishou carefully designed a very specific upbringing for Ichirou in order to encourage the development of specific personality traits and interests, and discourage the development of any attribute that he considered to be 'unnecessary'.

The boy spoke formally at all times, never expressed emotion, and rarely changed his facial expression. The Saikou family's attendants often wondered if the boy was still capable of independent thought, or if he was simply an empty shell that had been trained to carry out his father's will." Beside that, nothing else is known about his personality.
Familiar, isn't it ? We also learn that this is Saisho's conception of an "ideal person".
It is mentionned Grandpa was the one to chose Ichirou's wife, with the same criteria as he chose his own wife. Again, a perfect wife, because he didn't want his son to waste all the work he had put to this point to have a perfect bloodline. To this point, grandpa got the living proof that nurture works, but he still can't let go of his belief nature plays a part in it.
If only there was a way to run an experiment that could give an answer to this question...
The theory
The sisters theory is that Megami and Ayano are sisters, but there are usually divergences on how they are related. Keep in mind that I will be using the old timeline from 1980s mode as a template. It's already inaccurate as Yandere Simulator isn't set in 2022 anymore, but in 2026. But I don't care, the events probably play the same way.
Megami and Ayano are revealed in this timeline to have been born in the same year. You'll notice that the timeline mentions the birth of "Ryoba's daughter", and the birth of "Ichirou's daughter". Keep in mind that Jokichi isn't mentioned as Ayano's father.
And that's where we come to the main misconception in this theory.
Who are Megami's parents ?
Ichirou is obviously Megami's father. However, many have theorized that Ryoba is Megami's biological mother. This theory goes both way, either Megami and Ayano are twins separated from birth, or Saikou kept an egg from Ryoba and inseminated the Wife. This would make her Ayano's maternal half-sister.
I don't suscribe to this theory. Well, first of all, considering the timeline, Crazy Grandpa was the one behind the deal we'll mention later with Ryoba. I don't think he would have wasted his time finding a wife with perfect genes for his son if he had planned for her to only be an incubator.
Also, another reason, Megami's little antenae. It's a part of her design that she gets from her mother. The Wife is also mentioned to have given birth to two children, Megami and Kencho, which wasn't a necessary precision. Alex would have probably found a way to circumvent this if she hasn't really have birth to Megami.
So no, sorry, Megami probably isn't a yandere.
So... if Ayano and Megami aren't related throught Ryoba... how are they sisters ?
Through Ichirou. Simply enough.
Yeah, as great of a dad Jokichi is, he is probably not Ayano's biological father. Ayano is a copy paste of Ryoba, so he doesn't share anything in common with Ayano design-wise, that could indicate he is indeed her father. We don't even know that much about him as an adult. The Characters page doesn't mention him being Ayano's father, he is only described as the student he was back in the 80s.
However, Ichirou is described as extremely similar personality wise to Ayano. While Ayano is probably emotionless due to the Aishi curse, she is way more stoic than Ryoba in her own mode. But that's still a weak evidence, this is way I will back this up with the timeline.
We know that Ryoba has given birth to a daughter very late compared to her own mother and grandmother. These reasons are said to be plot related and big spoilers. Again, Ayano's father isn't mentioned as a parent, only Ryoba.

I recently went through my text document that lists all character ages and birthdates and changed a few things. Aishi women now give birth at 18. Ryoba, however, gave birth at 31, for plot-related reasons that will be revealed in the true ending (or perhaps in the basement tapes).

So, this is my own theory on what happened.
Just shut up and tell us what happened already
In the timeline, it is mentioned Ryoba's mother kept her Senpai in her basement. In 1984, when Ryoba was still a child, Saikou Corp renovated all the houses in Buraza Town for free, including Ryoba's house. Why was this even mentioned ? Because it was the first meeting between the Saikou and Aishi families.
Crazy Grandpa found out about the weird shit happening in the Aishi's basement. He learns about the Aishi curse. He decides to keep an eye on the Aishi's daughter at Akademi. Everything Ryoba did to get her Senpai convinces him the Aishi gene is the perfect gene to create an emotionless heir.

Kocho is extremely reluctant to let Ryoba return to the school, stand on a stage, and hand her a diploma but was told by Saisho Saikou to let it go.

He orders his men to abduct Jokichi as an hostage, so she would agree to have a meeting. That's when they made a deal, that Ryoba would be the mother of the future Saikou heir. But not only is Ichiro not old enough, he wants to find the perfect wife for him. She can marry her Senpai and have well paying jobs in the meantime.
Ten years after that, Ryoba has a meeting with Saikou and his son. And according to Kencho, she is apparently a regular.

She walked straight through the waiting room and directly into Mr. Saikou's office, without even speaking a single word to the secretary.

How long had that woman been coming here? How often? What business did she have here?
Kencho asks the secretary details, and we are told :

The secretary was silent for a few moments, and then gave me some generic platitude about how "the details of Mr. Saikou's appointments must be kept strictly confidential."

So either Saisho fired the previous secretary, or this meeting must be extremely confidential. Because that secretary was a huge gossip when it came to Ichiro and Saisho's falling off.
We get the confirmation it is a big deal as all the employees act the same at the mention of Ryoba.

When they saw how distraught I was, they were eager to help, but...
...When I asked them about that woman who just walked by, they... their attitudes changed in a heartbeat.
They slowly turned away from me and returned to their work in silence.
They ignored me, as if I wasn't even there! I haven't been treated like that since I was a schoolboy!

It was as if that woman was a taboo subject that no-one was allowed to speak of...or that...
He asks about her several times but Crazy Grandpa shuts him down. Kencho mentions Ichiro was there for all the meetings, but he has only heard him speak a handful of times. However, we also know that Ryoba and Ichiro have spoken with each other.
2004, Ichiro is in his mid-twenties. He gets married to the Wife. That's when his two daughters are born : Megami is born to the Wife, as the official heir to Saikou. Ayano is born to Ryoba, away from the Saikou family, as the bearer of the Aishi curse.
How exactly what Ayano born ? It is unlikely Ryoba would have cheated on Jokichi, which is why many have theorized on an insemination. Considering Saikou is a tech company, it's not out of reach.

He had two children, in accordance with his father's wishes; 'One as a backup in case the first child fails you.'

Yes, this might refer to Kencho. But this might also refer to Ayano. After all, Saisho did have twin daughters, before having a spare...
One was raised to be emotionless. One was born emotionless. It was the old debate, nurture against nature. Which one would produce the perfect heir to the eyes of the Saikou ?
Crazy grandpa retires in 2019, right before Megami and Ayano enter Akademi, and Ichiro becomes CEO.
Ichiro wants to select the perfect heir. And for that, he decides he will select the one who will come out on top, between Megami and Ayano. He seals a deal with Kencho about Ayano.

There is...one tape...that I'm already prepared to part ways with... The tape I made after Mr. Saikou's recent, ah...demands. It's far, far too risky for a recording like that to exist... That one...must be destroyed...immediately.

We know this deal is about Ayano. When Kencho kills Ayano as he feels threatened, he says "Mr. Saikou, the deal is off".
Ryoba and Jokichi both work for Saikou. We know from the headmaster that Ryoba and Ichiro have frequent meetings. She is able to walk in his office regularly. Why ? To discuss their daughter.
When Ryoba announces they are going to America, and Jokichi worries about their job, she says she gave a call to their boss and "he was very understanding". I used to interpret this as their boss being scared of Ryoba. But if their boss is Ichirou, there might be a reason he was so understanding. If Jokichi and Ryoba were to get away from Buraza Town, they wouldn't get in the way of his plans.
After Ayano disposes of Osana, we get a cutscene where he is on the phone with Ichiro. He seems very pleased with the unfolding events, and tells Kencho these deaths are "necessary casualties" for the "progress of science". Normal CEO activity, nothing wrong here.
But Megami also learns about this, as she is aware of the presence of a dangerous individual. Either Ichiro told her, or she might have discovered it by herself. Ichiro keeps her away from school for several weeks. She attends school through Zoom.
In very early builds of the game, you could find a laptop in the school. You would get to see Megami as a shadowy figure, back when she still had black hair. And here's her monologue :

I know who you are. I know WHAT you are. My father won't allow me to attend school while you are... "active". He has a reason for tolerating your presence at this school. I don't. You are a vulgar creature that is only allowed to exist because you serve a purpose. If it was my decision, then every last one of you would be exterminated.

And here's the end of Megami's description.

Megami clearly has some very important information that would cause her to go to such extreme lengths...but what does she know? Does Saikou Corp have anything to do with it? And, more importantly, does Senpai have anything to do with it?

So yeah, that's it for me folks, I'm putting the tin foil hat away and going back to my regular activities. If you have any counterpoint or anything to add, please tell it in the comments.

Admittedly, I’m having a tough day. But it’s a long time coming. I (23M) have been working in an office setting for about 5 years, now. I’ve got no college education, a 1-year-old kid, a wife in college, can’t afford to quit or make less than the $39k I make, currently. We moved back in with my parents just so my wife could do this and we wouldn’t be homeless.
But after all of this time, I’ve gotta find something else for my career. I can’t sit at a desk for 9 hours a day, emailing people, taking calls, and getting berated by my boss (who’s got no clue about anything) on things she trained me incorrectly on but now pretends (to save her own butt) like she did not. I can’t continue to deal with computers and their MULTITUDE of issues. I cannot stand office dramas, I’m not in high school and the dramas here are so often exactly that. There’s a lot more to it than that but I’m not here to just vent.
So here I am, at my wits’ end. I need out but I don’t know where to look and I have no idea where to go.
If you can, just help in suggesting something. My Sundays must be free and Wednesday nights, too. I’d like to be home with my family when they are home and awake. Also need to continue my retirement and maintain health benefits. And it’s gotta be $39k+.
I know these restrictions aren’t helpful but it’s what I’m dealing with for the time being.
Thanks, everyone.

TLDR: I started (what seemed to be) my dream job two months ago and I am struggling. I have no clue if I’ll be picked up after the 90-day probation period ends. I feel like I had a rough start because my CPTSD is flaring up in ways that I did not anticipate. I also feel like I’m not qualified enough for this position now that I have it. My manager will not provide any feedback.
I worked at my last company for 3.5 years. One of our managers retired and everything went downhill. The new manager had been let go from her prior role for lying, blaming her mistakes on an employee, and trying to fire that employee. This had been communicated with our management, but their “hands were tied” because she was friends with the owner of the company. Can you guess what happened next?
My coworker had a history of rage and control issues which started to escalate after the change in management. Weekly outbursts became hourly outbursts consisting of screaming, slamming fists against desks and monitors, violent threats, and screeching until she would start bawling. She just celebrated her 16^th anniversary with the company. HR does not care.
I barely survived childhood. My mom had psychotic breaks. My CPTSD started flaring up in ways that it hadn’t in over 15 years. I needed to get out.
I interviewed for my new job and provided an honest assessment of my skills. For example, I’ve worked in a different industry for the last seven years and doing X in Industry A might not translate well to doing X in Industry B. I am actively working on getting certified for skill A, but haven’t used it for the last 3.5 years. The manager seemed receptive. Turns out the manager is new and doesn’t know what she’s doing (according to my new coworkers). They need a super expert. I am not a super expert.
I tried to stay optimistic. I blocked out time to improve my skills at night and on the weekends. I really wanted to pivot to this kind of role. I have all of the core skills, but the change in industry is really tripping me up. It’s like going from fishing in the river to trying to swim with whales. I’m also going from a specialized and defined role to a catch-all. I have to be familiar with every process in the company.
My CPTSD continued to flare up really badly in this new role before it settled down after a month. I don’t even know if anyone else even noticed. It would be hard to explain to people that there was someone who would shout at me every time I opened my mouth, so I just stopped talking. That I'm expecting to get blamed for things that aren't my fault. That there is a part of me that is always waiting for the screeching to start. That I'm still having dreams that she shows up to my house with a gun. And all of this swirls together with bad memories of moments from my childhood where I almost didn't make it. Honestly, they probably just think I'm a little shy. I was in therapy until I left my last job.
I tried to schedule one-on-ones with my boss to discuss my goals, but she is always busy or gone. Two of my coworkers (12 years combined experience with the company) worked on a very complex project for 13 months before successfully convincing management that it was not feasible. This project is being rebooted and assigned to brand new me to do from scratch by myself. It's not a matter of skill, it literally can't be done.
I don’t know if I should roll up my sleeves and continue trying and hope for the best. I started looking for a new job just in case. I would hate to squander this new opportunity. I would hate to be a failure.

I do the sales end of technology. While sales may (or may not) allow me to retire in peace, in the near term, doing sales for a living is always a shit show. It's intense. It's cutthroat (to a degree). And the company will fire you if you don't make your numbers. Even with the best / most functional tech companies, to be clear, sales is not a job for the faint of heart.
Typically, leadership in a startup tech company will let the sales organization breathe and do their thing, advise as necessary, then adjust things if they need to grow the company. Or if sales is sucking, there will be a mass firing and a reboot of the sales team. I have experienced this dynamic many, many times, and it's a part of the game. Regardless, sales is almost always comprised of hires who have been trusted -- empowered -- to grow the business.
... not at this company, tho.
The CEO is this terrible combination of a sock puppet and one of those (creepy) dolls where you pull a string and the doll just keeps chattering away. He's actually not a bad guy personality-wise, for the most part, but he has zero self awareness about how his approach to customer-facing activities has a negative impact on the business. And I assure you that the business is failing, less than 2 years into it. We don't come remotely close to making our numbers, and even with our best efforts, it's hard for me to believe that this company will ever turn the corner.
And it's fucking all of us in sales. Hard. Plus, the CEO has the most punchable face that I have ever seen. This motherfucker gets on a call (mainly unannounced because he thinks that the prospective customer is "interesting"), talks over our entire team, and literally does not deliver on the call what the customer asked for in the first place. And the calls always run late, the customer gets antsy because we are running over schedule, then we lose any momentum we have around getting a next call with these customers.
When you have a multi-million dollar (sales) quota, and you end up losing a million or more in projected business, due to the CEO's shenanigans, and you're acutely aware that being fired is a distinct possibility if you don't make your numbers, working at a place like this literally crushes your soul. I hate working here, and I say this as a person who's highly adaptable to tons of crazy shit. Like I said earlier, it's the way of sales.
So, why don't I say anything about it?
No matter how much sales is balls-to-the-wall / take-no-prisoners, you still have to demonstrate some level of professionalism. I was raised to not talk back to my parents. And I have learned over time to not rock the boat in terms of creating drama with a company's leadership. Therefore, in as much as my boss says that I should take this up with the CEO, well, I am not going to take this up with the CEO. I mean, what am I going to say? "STOP ATTENDING CALLS." No. "EMPOWER YOUR TEAM MORE." No. "STOP TALKING SO MUCH." Strong no.
The CEO literally filled in for someone in leadership who was on leave, and when the person returned from leave, the CEO decided to keep this person's position on a permanent basis -- and reassigned the person to another leadership role, basically a figurehead role (ANOTHER talker) with basically zero decision-making power in the business.
On top of this all, this company is completely devoid of culture. I look at a slice of white bread, and I look at this company, and they are indistinguishable. I'm not a rah-rah or pom-pom type of guy. I'm not going to raise a glass at a company event and scream out the company's name at the top of my lungs. However, working with people where there is a common purpose and camaraderie are usually benchmarks for successful and healthy companies. This company has neither of those elements, and I know that the CEO is aware of this deficiency. Why? Because he addressed it. Well, he addressed it in his own special way. Just like he always does.
So, what does the CEO do? Does he start a campaign to have us take a poll where we state what would be important to us? Does he establish, at the very least, regional, in-person events? Does he do any other meaningful thing to bring people together? Nope. He makes a rule that we'll build our culture by requiring that we run our cameras on every internal company meeting. People literally post, likely out of fear, in the chat application on Zoom -- if they need to go off camera so that they can take a shit.
Worst, I'm pretty sure that the board has been shitting all over the leadership of this company. They have these board meetings each quarter -- each quarter nothing ever changes -- and leadership constantly whitewashes the whole thing.
Changing jobs in sales is a regular thing. Maybe the tech sucks and your lunch gets eaten by a competitor. Maybe the market has changed (it always does). Maybe the company is poorly run. Maybe it's a combination of all of those things and more. At some point, and you'll know when it's time, you just move on to the next opportunity.
My longest stint has been 3 years. Like I said, sales is not a job for the faint of heart. Working in sales is a trade off between longevity at any given company and maximizing your own compensation -- because life is short. Still, while most people in sales have a dozen or more jobs on their resume, having a stint for less than a year is frequently a disqualifying metric -- when you take into consideration that AI-based hiring models are so common for tech companies these days. AI isn't going to understand the nuance of the breaks(s) on your resume, and you will be disqualified without any human intervention. So there is that.
Less than a year into it I'm cooked, and who knows if the business will even let me stay for a year? Heck, it's laughable that I've been able to sell multi-year deals to customers -- where I'm not certain that the company will be around a year from now.
The CEO is the issue here, unless I didn't make that clear enough earlier. He will run this place into the ground. He will end up with worse employees once the word gets out that his company is shit to work for -- after he suffers a bout of attrition after a year. Replacing the CEO with someone who actually knows what they're doing / understands what it takes to grow a business will also probably kill the business.
Here's to hoping that I make it to 13 months.

Context: I played Fallout 3, 4, and New Vegas before this. I'm not interested in putting my words into a coherent review, but more of my personal experience and emotions playing Fallout 1.
This game is old, it's so old that it needs the original PC box that came with a manual, which contained the keyboard controls, Thank god for the internet. This has no tutorial and my god has it aged visually that I wondered if my eyes were dying. I need to remember to F6 (it's not F5 to quick save here) a lot before I do something unintentionally stupid. My strength was too damn low to even hold up a hand gun??? Restarted with a new character at least 4 times before I got to the 2nd town and got my ass handed to me. How the fuck does sneaking work and pickpocketing work?
With all these complaints set aside of learning how to play an old ass game.
This game great, it doesn't hold your hand and rewards you greatly with solving problems like an old time adventure game and takes the table top style role playing game seriously. The exploration is addicting like the newer iterations where you rummage every bookshelf or locker and talking to every NPC to collect as much info as you can. The quests aren't logged and there's no direction or map pinpoint to show you where to go much like Elden Ring as a recent example.
Oh you think you can be a brain dead player following an indicator on your map? No you dumb fucker, you're gonna have to actually read carefully and remember an NPC's name and location. You missed or ignored a side quest for a few days? Guess what, those NPCs are dead cause the Super Mutants invasion plot is taking over since the plot is moving forward. That's right, there's a 100 day countdown and 100 day extension (1000 caps to send water) to save your vault. So you can't bankrupting the towns or save a settlement that needs your help (Preston cries in settlements) with this urgent plot moving forward fast.
So I built my character on speech and small guns going for a charismatic, gunslinger and thinking I'll be the talk of the town. Well the game takes your cockiness into consideration when a deathclaw hands your ass in a near beginner quest. Apparently you can sneak past it, but I don't know how that works. So I worked on getting to the brotherhood of steel to get that sweet power armor. Wait, you can't wear it cause you don't have a carrying capacity unless you get rid of a lot of the loot you collected. Killed the deathclaw, but disappointed i can't wear it like a trophy.
Talking my ass out thinking i can get out of any situation with 100 speech. Most of this is true. Then you snark in front of the Super mutant boss and he blows your ass off with a minigun. Or you join the mutants and the game ends. But wait, the mutant leader can torture you and see if you can take punches. As a result you get thrown in prison and you can't escape unless you have high sneak. Well sneak these nuts, I'm reloading to a save before I got into that predicament.
Hey look. I got a companion named Ian, cool dude, I like Ian. then Ian got blown up by a rocket launcher from a random super mutant encounter. RIP Ian and his leather jacket. No companion respawns.
I beat the game talking to The Master to death. Hell yeah, my charisma and science check saved my vault. Wait they fucking exiled me after going through the meat grinder for them? Then Ron Pearlman narrates there were side stories I missed and had some very bad endings for the side characters.
This game is merciless and a roller coaster of emotions unlike the modern games which have a more action rpg focus that let you off pretty easy with little consequences. This entire game feels like a wack a mole of consequences and I love it. I barely even talked about 1/10th of the things that happened in my play through. This is a game where you want to talk about your journey, because of how difficult and strange it can be going in blind.
As for the lore, I'm very impressed to see where the later games took the baton and grew from there including my man Harold, the mutated dude who turns into a tree in Fallout 3. I didn't know you had it so bad Harold.
I have to replay the game with a different build and take a different exploration path. But what really made this my favorite fallout game was the Bramen cows saying "Moo, I say."
further random thoughts.

• the action point system being able to shoot specific limbs must have been extremely impressive back in the day.
• Still not sure what backpack and bags do, apparently they're for organizing inventory. I thought a backpack would increase carrying capacitor.
• still can't find ammo for rocket launcher. My only shot went past the super mutant I intended to shoot and killed another further away. Beautiful happy accidents.
• They had a stacked voice cast. Jim Cummings, Tony, Ron Pearlman, Richard dean anderson, Cree Summer, David Warmer, Tony Jay, Clancy Brown, and so many others.
• The best written Fallout? Not in overall narrative, but it was very thoughtful in writing out the choices and letting them play out. Especially if intelligence is 1 point.
• There's something very special about the crude full motion videos back in the day.
• I would love to have Fallout return to the table top style game play one day.
• I will play Fallout 2 as soon as I get all the good endings and exterminate all the deathclaws.

I don't like my job anymore :(
I work as an admin assistant at a community college, in their childcare center.
The job isn't hard, the workload is manageable, the kids and teachers love me, and it pays well.
But I've been having trouble abiding by all the social scripts required of me here. Especially with my supervisor. I have a tendency to ask a lot of questions for clarification, and I've been told I come off argumentative and insubordinate as a result.
My boss is older, in her 60s. I don't really think she understands autism, especially the way it presents in women. I'm not being argumentative, at least I'm not trying to be. It's like every time I ask a question, she's thinks I'm questioning her authority or intelligence.
I'm trying hard to be better about it, so much so that I don't ask questions anymore even when they're necessary. But I'm still running into the same issues with her. She doesn't want me to question her logic or her reasoning, even when I know she's wrong. She fills out paperwork incorrectly, and I'm not allowed to point it out without it being a discussion in her office later. Then I have to spend more time fixing mistakes we could've avoided in the first place had I been allowed to speak.
It's like I'm walking on eggshells all the time, policing my tone and my body language and how often I speak. It's exhausting. I worked really hard to get this job. I waited three months through the entire application and interview process, and I prayed every day I'd get it. I was overjoyed when they offered the position to me. But here I am six months later, shaking and hyperventilating every time she wants to speak with me privately.
Part of me thinks, stick it out and outlast her out of spite. She's close to retirement age anyway. But another part of me thinks, why bother. The job market is shit as we all know, the odds of me finding another job quickly are slim.
I'd prefer something 100% remote, but the listings I find on job boards pay significantly less than what I make now. I can't afford a pay cut. I can't go back to the retail hellhole I escaped to get here, so I don't know where else I can go.
What are my options here?

We achieved retirement income (4% rule) > retirement expenses. These expenses include a mortgage which will be paid off in a few years. And the income does not include my SS. Wife is already retired.
Well, I’m only 55 and I’m leaving so much on the table by retiring today. My employer contributes to a pension and 401k matches a lot, on top of a pretty descent salary and bonus. 55-60 are the golden years for pension contribution. I’m shoveling a lot of my salary into my Roth right now since we’ve trimmed our expenses down. The mortgage is only 1.875%, and while I’d love to pay it off - it just doesn’t make sense when I’m getting ~5% on my money market. Anyway - the numbers keep getting better every month I keep working.
So what’s the problem? Well, since we achieved FI last year, I loath going to work for a narcissistic boss who doesn’t take advantage of my capabilities. I woke up this morning with such severe depression about having to login, that I contemplated calling it quits. I feel this way a lot, and it would be different if I HAD to work - put my head-down and do what I need to do. But I don’t need to.
I loved my job for the better part of the 24 years I’ve been with this company and maintain hope things will change. To be clear: great company, horrible boss.
Achieving FI I feel has made me weak and unwilling to fight against a bad boss. As they say people don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses - and it angers me that this one person could keep me from finishing a successful career on a high note with a lot more $$$ in the coffers.
I’d like to hear from those that continued to push through adversity at work even after achieving FI. Or those that said F-it, I’m done.

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"That was terrible."
Lissa was wearing her Homestar dress. Yvian didn't know how the Peacekeepers had made it, but it was the second most amazing piece of clothing she'd ever seen. The fabric, if it was fabric, showed a perfect holographic image of stars in the void. In the center of Lissa's chest, right over her heart, was Pixa's Homestar, bright and burning and beautiful. Lissa's hair had been done up in an elaborate style with lots of curls. She'd looked regal giving her speech. Like a ruler from the days of old. Now she just looked annoyed.
"I told you I don't do speeches," Yvian reminded her. The pixen was wearing her own Homestar dress. Hers showed a crystal city under a clear blue sky. Like Lissa's, her dress had the Homestar centered over her heart, but this time it was the view from the ground. Normally wearing the dress made Yvian feel pretty and powerful. Today it made her feel like a fraud.
"Yeah, I can see that." Lissa frowned at her. "You sound like you're reading off a prompter."
"I am reading off a prompter," Yvian frowned right back. She pointed at the holodisplay behind Lissa. It was the one from the kitchen. Mims had decided against bringing them back to New Pixa, so the crew had set up a studio in the cargo bay. Sort of. Really, it was just a podium and some recording equipment, but Lissa had looked official enough.
"Yeah," Lissa acknowledged, "but you're not supposed to sound like it. You're supposed to sound natural."
"I don't know how to do that!" Yvian snapped. She grimaced. "Sorry. This is just frustrating." She'd tried recording the speech six times now. "I shoot things for a living. I'm not made for public speaking."
"She really isn't," Scarrend agreed. The Vrrl lounged comfortably atop a cargo container, his head propped under two of his hands. He was armored. Mims had grudgingly agreed the pixens needed to dress up, but everyone else was combat ready.
"You're the one who wanted to start a country," Lissa told her. "You're going to have to speak in public from time to time."
"I know," Yvian grumbled. "I know. It's just... can we take a break or something? Maybe give me time to memorize the speech?" It was a good speech. Lissa had wrote it. Yvian just needed to figure out how to say it with feeling. She didn't think memorization would help, but it was worth a try.
"It is pretty close to dinner time," Captain Mims noted. "We could make some stir fry."
"Negative," Kilroy disagreed. "This unit told the citizens to expect a statement from Mother Yvian. The statement is scheduled for fifty three minutes and nine seconds from now." His eyes flashed yellow. "Also, this unit is enjoying the show."
"Of course you are." Lissa sighed. "This was a bad idea."
"Maybe we need a different approach." Captain Mims stepped in. "Have Yvain just... I dunno... talk about what she thinks."
"Mother Yvian has shown she can can speak well when she is speaking from the heart," Kilroy concurred.
"It can't be much worse than what you're doing," said Scarrend.
"I don't know about that," said Lissa. "You remember Zenla Station?"
"We don't talk about Zenla Station," Mims chided.
"What happened at Zenla Station?" Scarrend was curious.
"We don't talk about Zenla Station," Mims repeated, more firmly this time.
"Alright," Yvian hurriedly changed the subject. "Alright. I'll speak from the heart." She paused. "Um..."
"I'm gonna need a beer after this," Mims muttered.
"Quiet Mark," Lissa ordered. "Or I'm gonna make you give the speech."
"No you're not," the Captain told her. "You're not the boss of me. Besides, I'm human. No one cares what I think about all of this. It'd be like Scarrend giving a speech."
"I can give a speech if you want," the Vrrl volunteered. "Attention pixens, you are all fools. You are rioting over a database. Your culture is absurd, and watching you makes me glad I'm bound by treaty not to prey on your kind. I could never risk eating one of you now, for fear you'd somehow infect me with your stupid."
Lissa gave Scarrend a level look. "You worship people that enslaved your species. People," she pointed out, "that you literally ate out of existence."
Scarrend growled, half rising. Then he glanced at Mims and went back to lounging. "It was a terrible mistake," the Vrrl admitted. "Now there are no more gods to eat."
"You don't know what it's like," Yvian told him. "When you're a pixen... All we have is each other." Yvian could see the Vrrl didn't get it. "Our parents. Our community. They're everything. The only thing. Everyone else..." She stared at nothing, remembering things best forgotten. "Everyone else just takes. Other pixens are the only ones that love us. That help us. When Yasme disowned me..." She shook her head. "When she struck my name off the Registry, I didn't just lose her. I lost everyone. Everything. People I'd known since birth hated me now. They would kill me if they got the chance. I had no one but my sister, and I only had her because she loved me more than she loved being part of society."
"Even now, after Kilroy..." Yvian barely caught herself in time. Telling all of Pixa that the Peacekeepers had threatened and tortured Yasme into lying for them wouldn't go over well. "After we found what really happened..." Yvian shook her head. "I can't be comfortable around other pixens. It doesn't matter if my Mother didn't remove me by choice. I'm still motherless. I know I'm not welcome."
"Yvian..." Lissa started.
"That's what everyone lost," Yvian pretended she hadn't heard her. "It's not just a database. Being on the Registry of Families meant you were a pixen in good standing. It meant there were people who cared about you. It meant you were good enough. It's part of your identity. Now that part is gone, and everyone's feeling lost."
"I know what that's like." Yvian addressed the holo-imager directly. "Better than anyone. You feel like outcasts. But you're not. Not like... Not like I was. Your parents didn't reject you. Pixa did not reject you. You did not lose your place in Pixen society. You just lost the Registry. Our enemies broke it hoping that it would break you. But it won't. It doesn't have to." Yvian took a breath and closed her eyes. She borrowed a line from the speech Lissa had written. "We're all motherless now. Every one of us. And if everyone's motherless..." She opened her eyes, hoping she didn't sound as corny as she felt. "If everyone's motherless, maybe no one is." She crossed her arms, looking down. It was a lie. She was lying. She was still motherless. "At least..." She would always be motherless. "At least not from this."
Yvian forced herself to look up, to look at the imager again. She groped for more words, but they wouldn't come. "I guess..." She swallowed. "I guess that's all I have to say."
"Not bad, Sis." Lissa turned off the holo-imager. "I think we can work with that."
"Affirmative," Kilroy agreed. "Your statement was acceptable. This unit will upload it at the specified time."
"Good," said the Captain. "Let's go make dinner." He started walking. "I'm hungry."
"There is another matter that requires our attention," Kilroy reported.
"Ah, hell." The Captain stopped. "What is it now?"
"An agent of the Extraterrestrial Reconnaissance Organization has used the riots as cover to stage an escape." Yvian half expected the Peacekeeper's eyes to turn red, but they remained unlit.
"A spy?" Lissa frowned at him. "There aren't any spies in the Technocracy."
"There are hundreds of spies in the Technocracy," Mims told her.
"Sixteen hundred and thirty four," Kilroy confirmed, "that this unit knows of."
"What?" Lissa didn't want to believe it. "How? The only people there are pixens and Peacekeeper units."
"XTRO's been recruiting people to keep tabs on the Confederation for over a century," Mims explained. "Pixens are prime targets. Exploitable refugees that no one pays attention to, and most of them don't like the Confed anyway."
"But that's the Confederation," Lissa argued. "Why would anyone spy on the Technocracy? Against our own people?"
"They started out in the Confed, but it's not a surprise they were sent here once the Technocracy got going. As for why? " The Captain shrugged. "Lots of reasons. Doesn't matter. What's important is we have spies, and one of them got away." He turned to Kilroy. "Who was it?"
"Myrsa Trin," said the Peacekeeper.
"Myrsa?" Lissa shook her head in denial. "No. No way."
"Who's Myrsa?" Yvian asked.
"One of my assistants," Lissa explained. "She was in charge of coordinating refugee placement."
"She was also a spy for the humans," Scarrend helpfully added.
"Not her," Lissa was sure. "I knew her. Know her. We're friends. She's the only one that never said anything about..." She glanced guiltily at Yvian. "She can't be a spy."
"Myrsa Trin accessed and downloaded multiple databases before boarding a gladiator class ship," said Kilroy. "She left the sector eight minutes ago."
"You didn't stop her?" Yvian didn't see how a single ship could make it's way past the Peacekeepers. The Queenships alone could disable anything stupid enough to try, and they were backed by a million Stinger units and millions of Military vessels captured from the Federation and the Confed.
"Negative," Kilroy confirmed. "Myrsa Trin activated her jumpdrive without leaving the shipyard. Units were unable to target her in time."
"Crunch." Yvian was tired of bad news. At least this time wasn't as bad. The Peacekeepers didn't keep a lot of sensitive information where people could get it. She doubted that Myrsa could take anything that would really matter, even if she was one of Lissa's... Oh, shit. "Wait." She stared at Lissa with wide, worried eyes. "Did you say she was your assistant?"
"One of my best," Lissa confirmed. She glanced from Yvian to Mims, then to Kilroy. "I really trusted her."
"Trusted her enough to give her a Lucendian implant?" Yvian asked.
Lissa stared for a moment. Then she said, "Oh, shit."
"We have to go after her." Scarrend jumped down from his shipping container. "Before she brings the implant to the humans."
"We don't know where she went," Yvian pointed out.
"But we know where she's going," Scarrend countered. "If we jump straight to Wet Sector, we can destroy her ship before the humans can retrieve her."
"Negative," said Kilroy. "Killing Myrna Trin would be counterproductive."
"Counterproductive?" All three of the Vrrl's eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"
"Alert." Kilroy's eyes turned red. "Unusual energy reading detected. The reading is similar to a Klaath portal. It is coming from a Federation vessel docked in Tenril Station."
"Destroy it," Mims said immediately. "Try not to blow up the station."
"Affirmative," said the Peacekeeper. "Second energy reading detected. Aldara Sector, in the asteroid belt."
"Destroy it," Mims repeated. "Destroy them both."
"Negative," said the Peacekeeper. "The second energy source is out of weapons range. First energy source destroyed. The Federation ship is disabled. Tenril Station has sustained minor damage."
"How soon can you take out the other one?" The Captain's fists clenched.
"The asteroid is on the far end of the asteroid belt," Kilroy reported, "on the other side of Aldara's Homestar. It will take twenty three hours, four minutes for Peacekeeper Stinger units to enter weapons range."
"Shit."
"Alert." Kilroy's eyes flashed brighter. "Klaath clusters detected in Tenril Sector."

Here is the recap of the 15 monetized posts from Kylea G Weight loss Journey on 05/12/24.
Disclaimer: I am not a physician, influencer, or paid content creator. I am not affiliated with WW. I am semi-retired from healthcare with multiple college degrees. These opinions are my own based on social media content. I wish no harm to Kylea or Joseph "Joe" Gomez.
☎️ If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, please call or text 988 for assistance.
The tagline of Kylea G Weight loss Journey is, "I changed my life with prayer and a playlist of songs. No surgery, no meds. Just Jesus."
DAILY STATS 05/12/24:
0/15 posts discussed prayer
1/15 posts discussed music (summer concerts)
0/15 posts discussed exercise
2/15 posts shared a recipe
3/15 posts were about something she ate or drank
1/15 posts was about food being fuel
1/15 posts was a tribute to Gibson Moon
1/15 posts was about Kylea packing a backpack
1/15 posts was about her pet cat
2/15 posts were about Joe liking bacon and Whataburger
3/15 posts were a tribute to her sweet momma
📢 For our friends at Meta, that means >53% of her monetized content had nothing to do with weight loss, which is the tagline and purpose of her page.
⚠️ Disordered Eating- Daily Food Consumption (Data compiled from monetized content):
0 WW Points: Hot Coffee. No protein shake or almond milk is described
0 WW Points: SalTea Sloth Loaded Strawberry, Watermelon, and Coconut Tea with 1/4 scoop "energy" (caffeine and other additive/chemicals);
4 WW Points: G Hughes Sweet & Spicy Shredded Crockpot Chicken, Cooked Red Potatos & Roasted Corn with spray vegetable oil.
25 WW Points: Great American Iced Cookie Cake Slice
📢 For our friends at Meta, that means Kylea consumed 4 WW points of her (up to) 30 WW point daily allowance and used 25 of her 28 weekly points on a sweet treat= Disordered Eating. This will be explained in more detail below. Please follow your policies on eating disorders and take action against Kylea Gomez.
Recipes Shared for Joe:

1. Cherry Cheesecake Overnight Oats
2. Pretzel Salad

📢 Joe is not on WW and prefers calorie-dense foods (per her content). Why post recipes of items she will not eat and Joe does not prefer?
🚨 Please speak with a medical professional about any questions or concerns you have about your health.
Comments: Although Kylea tried to focus her content on Mother's Day, the focus shifted to triggering food content and deadly messaging on the topic.
⚠️ Binge Eating, Compulsive Buying Disorder (CBD), aka shopping addiction, Death, Disordered Eating, Food Addiction, Gaslighting, Grief, Pregnancy Loss, and Religion will be discussed.
☮️ Today's discussion will be heavy. Please bow out at any time. Your mental health is more important than my comments.
Gibson Moon: Kylea kicked off the day early with this triggering post (she did not use a disclaimer), "Happy Mother's day to the momma's whose babies live in heaven with my sweet boy." An angel wing ornament with Gibson Moon and 9-5-22 is shown. She did not disclose this was an early pregnancy loss, leading followers to believe she lost a living child.
Using the Cat for Content: Kylea is feeling "a lot better" and will only have 1 cup of coffee today and "continue focusing on water." 🤔
Countdown to Concerts: Kylea is excited to "wear my pink boots again" at future summer concerts and "Just 18 days until I take Joseph to see Hardy." Kylea is a master at emasculating Joe with subtle digs. "...until I take Joseph to see Hardy." Please disregard the fact she travels to California tomorrow and getting a puppy in 1 week. I'm convinced she is not capable of living in the present moment.
SalTea Sloth to the Rescue: Why drink water when you can drink thrice-flavored tea with a caffeinated "energy" boost to cure your illness? 😉 This was Joseph's gift to her for Mother's Day.
Tribute to her Sweet Momma: Kylea praises her momma in a series of posts today. A quantity of fresh flowers to equal the 3 decades of her being a mother, a giant iced cookie cake, and gift bag (unknown contents) with a backyard BBQ and a new inflatable hot tub + previous all-expense paid cruise, wardrobe, and accessories were necessary to prove her love and adoration. 💰💖
Joe Loves Bacon & Whataburger: Joe's weight rapidly fluctuated in pictures today. 👀 He was the grill master with a pile of bacon, burgers (not shown), and then goofily posed in front of the unopened Whataburger. (He will be eating there tomorrow.) Remember Joe has not gained ANY weight and eats what he wants. Kylea triggers her followers on purpose for monetary gain. The fact that Meta is paying for this content on a weight loss page is a head scratcher.
The big finale: This is the time to bow out if triggered on the topic of disordered eating. My words will be harsh.
Kylea wants you to believe she has been extremely ill with nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. She consumed a Loaded Tea and brought her own low WW point chicken to a family barbecue. She shows a picture of a large Iced Cookie Cake she purchased. She shows a large piece she eats for 25 WW points. Here we go...
Follower: "That looks good was it worth the points?"
Kylea: "I just see food as food. So it was fine. 💖"
⏸️ This is gaslighting. Kylea has a serious eating disorder. She chooses not to use her WW daily points and obsesses about planning for and obtaining her weekly calorie-dense TREAT.
Food is Fuel Speech: "Hey friends I haven't really had the energy lately to explain, but I view all food as food and not a treat. Green beans, brownies, chicken- it's all food to me. That's the way I feel has helped me the most to completely reform my relationship with food. Fuel. No matter what. 💖 It's all about balance."
Follower: "Yummmm! They got us cupcakes at work, I had to indulge."
Kylea: "I don't look at dessert in that way, to me it's just food. 💖💖"
⏸️ Kylea loves to rate her meals, desserts and treats 10/10 and wants you to mimic her choices.
Follower: "Everyone needs a sweet treat! Your awesome! Enjoy and celebrate your Mom! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️"
Kylea: "I don't use the word treat, just food! 💖💖"
⏸️ This is a lie. Throughout a large portion of her monetized weight loss journey, Kylea used the word "treat" in her content. Somewhere along the way, that word became a trigger for her.
Follower: "Good philosophy. I need to lose obsession with food as comfort and companion."
Kylea: "I did on July 5 of 2021.💖"
⏸️ This is potentially deadly messaging. Kylea wants you to believe she received divine intervention when she wept at the feet of Jesus in July 2021 inside a bath tub (she also claims she could not fit in). She wants you to believe that in that moment, the chains of her 20-year binge eating/food addiction (two separate issues she uses interchangeably) were broken, and she has had a perfect journey since. She is desperate for you to believe she has had no cravings, no setbacks, or plateaus, and has not gained ANY weight since reaching her goal in July 2023. This is a lie proven through her own content.
Many artificial sugars are sweeter than natural sugar. She is addicted to "sweet" and fulfills her cravings daily. She "plans" for calorie-dense sugar bombs weekly and tries to claim treats are medically necessary to jump-start weight loss, keep her out of ketosis, prepare her body for pregnancy...
If food is just food and it is all fuel, why do diseases and conditions like diabetes, hypertension, strokes, and heart attacks occur? Why is there an epidemic of morbid obesity? Foods are not and will never be on a level playing field. Kylea has provided no proof of formal education in medicine, nutrition, health, or wellness. Stop looking to UNeducated influencers for your health and wellness advice. Her motive is to make money. Otherwise, the stats and comments I provide in these daily and weekly recaps would tell a different story.
Kylea has gained weight, and it is obvious, even through highly modified photos. She stopped showing her scale pictures, started wearing larger clothing, spandex tank tops and shorts, became defensive about body shaming, and either hides or shows clothing tags (depending on her mood). She lives in fear of the scale and the truth.
Follower 1: "How? I'm struggling so bad."
Follower 2: "I'm struggling as well! All I think about is food."
Kylea: "finding healthy coping skills"
⏸️ In what world are extramarital affairs, mocking, blocking, and doxxing followers, an out of control shopping addiction, disordered eating, boasting and complaining about your 18+ hour work days 24/7/365, constantly running away from your problems (frequent travel), and inappropriate parasocial relationships with musicians and the Basham & Lee's healthy coping skills? Someone, please explain it to me.
Kylea, you need holistic care from a team of medical professionals. They are not the enemy. People of faith should not feel shame for seeking medical care. It is time to put your devices down and prioritize your health. ☮️
Takeout Purchase: SalTea Sloth Tea with Energy= $8 est + tip;
Shopping: Blue Hydrangea= $24.82 est; *Fresh Cut 2 Dozen Roses= $39.94 est; Iced Cookie Cake= $44.99 est; Items in gift bag= Unknown;
*I do not feel there were 36 roses in the vase.
All info from Reddit. ✌️

Compromise
First Prev
“Alright, so uh...” Alex picked the last larva out of the bowl and ate it. A burst of umami and the unexpected taste of alcohol. Now that it had soaked up some of the spice from the broth, it was pretty good. Not particularly flavorful, but a better eating experience than he would expect from a grub. “Why did Eleya put two towns into a warship?”
“I do not know.” Carbon was less fussy about the variety of ingredients presented, eating without playing favorites. It was what she’d picked out when pressed to recommend something for him, and the speed of the devastation she was enacting on what had been a bowl nearly filled to the brim said that it was actually a personal favorite. “I had heard some suggesting converting retired Naval ships into housing, using a decommissioned carrier as a space station once it could be towed into a proper location. Swapping out launch bays for community towers is not a long bridge.”
“That seems...” It seemed desperate. But given what he’d seen, desperate was where they had been in the weeks following the disaster. Where they still were, even if things were improving.
Were things improving?
“Born out of desperation, yes.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “We did not have many colonies, we had not built so many stations. We only kept old ships for parts as another means of efficiency in our fleets. There had been hundreds of thousands in transit all over the Empire at the time. On their way home, on their way to relieve others who now no longer had a home to return to.”
“Yeah, that-” He shifted some of the shredded cabbage-potato around his bowl, trying to figure out what to say. The ‘that sucks’ he had stopped himself from blurting out felt offensively inadequate. “That does present a huge challenge. Did they end up bringing ships online for that?”
“Oh, we did everything. Any idea that was not completely untenable got the blue light. Repurposing ships, building sealed micro-arcologies on less habitable planets, mining out sufficiently large asteroids, asking the Confederation for help. I saw one proposal that suggested an inflatable space station. I thought it was a completely deranged idea.” She paused and picked up the bowl, slurping out some of the broth. “Then Humans arrive to bring aid, and do you know what the first structure they brought with them was?”
“An inflatable space station.” He saw that coming. Everyone - well, everyone who was sufficiently interested in space ships - would recognize the Redoubt class from that description alone. The very definition of form following function, each ship was little more than a central cylinder with hard points for a dozen habitat modules, and engines bolted to one end. Light, fast, cheap. Once deployed, you had a small space station that could be packed up when you were done. Old technology, sure, but they were everywhere, and the configuration options were extensive.
“Exactly. Forgive me, but I laughed. I knew the intent was to help, but having seen that proposal just weeks before...” She smiled and laughed despite having just apologized for such a thing.
“No I get it, it’s a goofy looking ship.” He could see the humor in the situation as well. Having gone from ‘this is too dangerous’ to ‘of course the Humans brought one’ was pretty funny. It put a smirk on his face and got him close to laughing along with her. “Probably used it as a command post until something heavier arrived. Kind of the primary use case for those in Search and Rescue, which is what I think the aid mission was first considered.”
“I was not involved with that aspect of recovery operations, but it stands to reason.” She set her utensils aside in a very specific way, sliding the bowl towards the end of the table. “I cannot tell you why they put all these people here. My first guess would be that it was a somewhat straightforward swap. The bays are very securely attached to the structure, but they are intended to be removed and replaced. It would be important that Eleya use her ship as a proof of concept.”
“Royals lead?” Seemed the logical jump.
Carbon nodded. “The Sword is recognized as her flagship. It is named after her. The Stronghold is based heavily on the Imperial Palace in Ama’o - may it rest. Taking in civilians, thousands of them, is hard proof that she is not simply hiding in here. Having the senate on board also brings with it the need for support staff, creating a symbiotic relationship. It is... a good compromise.”
“Okay, wait. How is The Sword of the Morning Light named after Eleya?” That legitimately confused him. “All I know is the -ya suffix is feminine.”
“Another name mauled by your automatic translation, though this time it is a portion of the Empress’ full formal titles.” She gave him a pointed look, a little smirk hiding on the side of her muzzle. “The strictest translation would be ‘the sword that is used to cut back the night,’ but that is even worse. If I were doing translations and feeling poetic, perhaps I would call it Dawnsword. It would convey the meaning of the name well enough, I think, without being verbose.”
“Then why do you call it the Sword like we do?” He figured just using the actual Tsla name would be easy enough if Dawnsword was a better translation.
“When in Rome.” Carbon snickered. “The Confederate systems I was working with before leaving for the Haultain were not set up to handle Tsla, and none of the Humans I spoke to recognized the name when I said it, so it became a force of habit.”
“Ah, that’d do it.” He’d ask about the actual name another time - it being one of Eleya’s titles felt like a natural transition to learning the rest of her titles, and he didn’t give a single damn about doing that right now.
“Alright, Eleya needs places to put people, and a place to put a temporary capital until the new location can be properly sorted. Two birds with one stone, I suppose. Wouldn’t staying at Schoen be more of the... leader thing to do?”
“If she were to stay here beyond the end of this endeavor, perhaps so. For now, having this ship - and its civilians - as a base of operations, in what even we consider to be one of the most secure solar systems, is reasonable. Most governing at that level has been done remotely since before the disaster, so it doesn’t impede anything.” She paused to sip her tea. “No one needs a senator to be on site anyway. Their presence traditionally just interferes with real work.”
That did get a laugh out of Alex. “The more things change.”
“The more they stay the same, yes?” She said with a grin.
“It is so. All right, mystery of the Dawnsword’s surprise towns is put to rest.” He stopped talking as Haraya came out of the woodwork to remove Carbon’s dishes, bustling away with even less stiffness than before. Why did he feel like he was forgetting something? “Heck. Did... Did anyone tell you we have an appointment to see a designer about our uh, our insignia?”
“No, but my communicator has been going off like I am being told something like that.” Carbon laughed and leaned back into her chair, fishing the slim black device from her jacket, the screen coming on.
Alex was not intentionally staring at his wife’s abdomen as he pushed the bowl away and set his chopsticks out like she had done. “Zenshen said it was this afternoon.”
“Mmh, afternoon. Another curious translation.” She teased him gently, flicking items off her screen one by one. “Neya says it is with Aetena Lyshen, at three. He has stated that his schedule is open today, and we may come in earlier if we so desire. Oh. How unexpected.”
Three o'clock, Tsla’o time, was probably like a solid five or six hours away. Plenty of time to have a deeply personal conversation about what Neya had told him. Or, perhaps, just go talk to the guy sooner. It wasn’t like he was putting it off... but he was putting it off for now. “What’s up?”
“Neya contacted the Colonel to make sure that Zenshen was attached to your detail properly - it turns out she was. You are both already on the artifact project, so it was just a slight shift of duties. The Empress went through appropriate channels, and Lehnan agrees with her decision.” She glanced up at him as she processed that. “I did not expect it to be so proper.”
“She is trying to turn over a new leaf, at least as far as you are concerned. Ensuring I have the help to not fuck things up, and doing it properly, could be a part of that.” He managed to make it sound like a statement, even though it was very much a question. Did his insistence that Eleya needed to start following through on her words actually sink in?
“It is possible. She will need to do more than fill out a little paperwork to prove herself.”
“Yeah, obviously. It’s just that you seemed surprised, so I was left with the impression that was unusual.”
Carbon stared down at the phone in her hands. “I do not know. From what I have seen, she will normally adhere to formal channels. But in the past, when it has come to dealings with me, she has not. Relied on her word being law to make things happen.”
Like making it legal to marry a Human. Changed who knows how much legal history with a stroke of a pen, to unfold some new machinations. “Zenshen made it sound like she was mostly there to act as a buffer between me and the military, keep me from offending anyone. Which strikes me as Eleya looking after her investment.”
“That is a reasonable assumption. I fear she has more intent sunk into you than we can see, so...” She also stopped talking when their waitress returned for Alex’s dishes, giving the young woman a warm smile. “Perhaps it really is.”
Alex, being privy to at least one plan that Carbon was unaware of, instantly did not want to comment on that. “Like you say, it lies with her to prove... herself good.”
“So it does.” Carbon smiled at his butchering of their turn of phrase before glancing down at her communicator again. “All right. Do you have any further plans for this morning?”
“Not a one. Want to push up the meeting with Lyshen? For that matter, do we have any plans tonight?”
“I do want to get that done. Designers can be particular. Best to get started sooner, and also have a meal that we can excuse ourselves for without appearing rude.” She smirked, displaying a little bit of the knowledge she had accumulated growing up in an elevated class, and started tapping away at the screen with both thumbs. “As for this evening, nothing that Neya has made me aware of.”
“Sounds good to me.” Left the evening open to actually have a sit down with Neya, perfect. “Oh shit, that reminds me. Neya wants us to bring her breakfast.”
“Does she. Very upset about not being able to come along?” The tone she had said that Carbon was familiar with Neya pretending to be put out by that, as did the barely hidden smile and tiny little snort of a laugh.
“Absolutely heartbroken.” He played along. “I had to promise that we’d get her something this morning and that you’d make breakfast again tomorrow.”
“Mh. We will see who is making breakfast when the time comes, but I will have something sent to her and we will proceed to our appointment.” She flipped through the applications on her phone and started typing something else out. “There.”
Carbon slipped the slim black screen back into her jacket and stood, stretching a little bit before walking over to the end of the bar, Haraya hustling out to meet them with a small device like the one Carbon had used to pay in the other little restaurant. She set her palm down on it, it processed for a moment and played a happy little tune.
“Thank you both, it was an honor to serve you.” Haraya bowed again now that the transaction was done.
“You did well, thank you.” Carbon said it in Tsla as she returned the bow, glancing over at Alex to ensure he was doing the same thing.
“Sa meha.” He was. Paying attention to what Carbon was doing was getting him pretty far, as was having memorized how to say ‘thank you’ in Tsla.
They turned to leave, but Haraya spoke again before they could take a step. Quiet, and very timid. “May I ask you a question?”
Carbon didn’t even think about it as she looked back. “Of course.”
“I was mostly asking the prince, I am very sorry.” She looked just this side of terrified to be correcting a Royal.
“Oh yeah, shoot.” Alex caught himself speaking in English way too late. He pursed his lips and inhaled, just barely preventing himself from rolling his eyes at that little faux pas. Based on what Carbon had said about Haraya getting her information about how nobles work from movies, she would have interpreted that as aimed at her. He queued up a very quick reply. “Please do.”
“After you left, last night.” She glanced over at the bartender, who was not paying them any attention at all. “Adana kept saying a strange word, I assume it to be Human - untranslatable.”
The irony of the translator not being able to digest something in English was not lost on Alex. What had he said to the kid?
Carbon, meanwhile, thought it was hilarious. “It is actually two words, a phrase. Oh, busted. In this case I believe it means that he got caught doing something he should not have been doing.” She laughed, looking up at Alex with a grin.
Haraya’s relief at how this turned out was immediately visible. She was still tense, but didn’t look like she might have just caught an execution. “Adana likes to play with the door controls. They beep and flash, and he can activate the viewscreen... And open the door. That is what he was doing when he found the prince in the hallway, when he should have been in bed. It is not an offensive term?”
“Et.” Alex shook his head no. Score another point for knowing the basics.
“It is as he says. A harmless statement.” Carbon picked up the slack from Alex trying not to advertise that he spoke their language yet. She looked over to him again. “Perhaps used to tease a friend when they get caught out?”
He nodded as sagely as he could, a smirk barely suppressed as he caught that shade she was directing at him.
“His mother will be so glad. She has been concerned it was some kind of swearing, or something worse. I told her that the prince had been kind in my interaction with him, but she was-” Haraya exhaled sharply, wide brown eyes darting between them with a hint of that fear creeping back in. “She was afraid despite that.”
“Ah. If that does not settle her, please get in contact with me.” She pulled her communicator out, swiping along the screen for a moment and holding it out to the young woman. “We can arrange a meeting to clear anything up.”
She looked down at a swirling orange circle on Carbon’s phone, “I am not allowed to carry my- May I get it?”
“Of course.” Carbon smiled.
Alex lowered his voice as Haraya hustled away. “You sure giving her your number is a good idea?”
“No. But she is earnest and correct in her assessment of you.” She shook her head, her words quiet and sharp. “That boy learned a simple phrase, and his mother thinks it is a curse? I know why she did. I have met my own people. I think a gentle nudge may be in order to prevent it from being passed along.”
“When you say gentle nudge...”
She held a hand out to ease his concern. “I was thinking tea.”
Haraya returned, phone in hand and followed by an older, grumpy looking male dressed in the same natural fiber clothes save for a vibrant red scarf around his neck, voice raised as he tried to keep up with the excited teen. “You may not use your-”
“Akai.” Alex gave what he assumed was a manager a needlessly cheery greeting with a little wave of his fingers. Oh man, he had loved being a shit to managers when he was younger, particularly if they were on a power trip. The opportunity hadn’t presented itself recently, and the urge to abuse the power that he allegedly had now was so tempting.
“Floor boss!” Carbon was a step ahead of him, greeting the gray male in their own language loud enough to draw his attention away from their waitress. “What is it that I may not use?”
Alex’s translator sat unused for several seconds as the sounds that guy made never made it past shocked guttural noises, the realization of who he’d been yelling in the general direction of sinking in. Haraya was too busy getting Carbon’s contact information to notice, or might have just been ignoring this exchange as hard as the bartender was.
“It was- My words- Did not for you.” He held up his hands and backed away.
“Ah, a simple misunderstanding?” Carbon offered him as the phone dinged complete, and she slipped it back into her jacket.
“Yes, of course.” Couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Haraya bowed again as she hid her communicator, the same black rectangle that Carbon and Alex appeared to have. “Thank you. I hope I will not have to contact you, but that you have offered...”
“The prince has shown me who he is, what is in his heart... It will not do to have anyone doubting his character.” Carbon smiled and returned the bow.
Alex followed suit.
The fear in her eyes was gone, and if anything there was a little bit of admiration in there now as she thanked them again, quietly, before running off to whatever her next duty was.
They left the same way they had come in, through the main dining area. The crowd had shifted, some groups gone, new ones in their place. Conversations to fill boredom, meals he didn’t recognize being consumed at every pace conceivable. Once again, he was pretty sure this was his kind of joint.
It only took the gentlest of questions to get Carbon talking about what she’d been doing all morning as they walked back to the tram, riding all the way to the stop closest to the bow this time. Alex was only slightly familiar about what she was talking about - had something to do with preventative maintenance checks on one of the shuttles. It was interesting to find out they had developed a very similar system to what he was used to, checking in on functionality after so many hours of use.
He didn’t understand the majority of what she was describing, but he enjoyed listening to her talk about things with such enthusiasm.
Lyshen’s office was easily the furthest forward he had been on the ship yet. Took the elevator up to deck 20 and then just walked towards the bow for another five minutes. He must have been as close as one could get to the plate armor and whatever buffer they put between it and the habitable areas. It seemed almost entirely unused - he was sure some of the bulkheads had dust on them.
For Alex, there were two potential reasons for this. Aetena Lyshen preferred the solitude of the area. It was actually very quiet, even compared to the hall in front of their cabin. Or, he had pissed someone off and gotten banished to a spot as far away as possible.
Whichever option, Lyshen had put some work into his workspace. The door was ringed in a delicate gold filigree, a lacework of glittering geometric shapes with his name and title contained in a small banner above the door. They were meeting with a Royal Artisan.
Carbon tapped the door controls and it slides open almost instantly. The young woman with light red fur inside is dressed nearly as formally as they had been last night, though in muted grays. She bows. Not too deep. “Welcome, the Chief Artisan is preparing for your arrival. It should be just a few minutes.”
Chief Artisan. Well. Alex shot Carbon a sidelong glance as the receptionist turned and they followed her through a waiting room. A simple rectangular area, with a few upholstered chairs and benches scattered around. It was the most Human looking area he’d been in so far.
The far wall caught his eye as they walked through, windows looking into a workshop. Alex walked over, the large floor beyond housing a dozen or so Tsla’o, all seated at desks or workbenches, engrossed in whatever they were working on. Almost to the last, they were using hand tools.
Alex had never really seen craftsmen up close, doing their thing. In movies, or videos, sure. But not right here a few steps away, carefully engraving some sort of... Breastplate? Cuirass? Big chunk of metal that looked like it went over the chest.
“I believe that is yours.” Carbon stepped up next to him, a smirk in her voice as she leaned against his shoulder. “To go with your gauntlets, and the rest of the armor that is no doubt being fabricated.”
“What makes you say that?” How could she pick that up from looking at it for, what, three or four seconds?
“Consider the size.” She nodded at it, the artist working on it laying out a star near the shoulder. “Who else would wear such a piece?”
“Huh.” Compared to the guy who was doing the work, it wasn’t exactly massive, but he would need a lot of padding to wear that. This raised a few questions for him about the ethics of receiving such gifts. But he wasn’t a politician... Not as far as the Confederation was concerned. “I guess it is.”
They stood in silence and watched work progress. A woman in the back was carving something, perhaps a chair leg. One guy in the corner making hinges with an induction forge and a tiny, specialized anvil.
Before long, the secretary approached them again. “The Chief Artisan is prepared for you now. Please.” She gestured to the only door that went somewhere other than the corridor.
The Chief Artisan was sitting behind his desk, wearing an outfit similar to his receptionist, pale green eyes switching back and forth between two screens. The primary one was built into the desk, and had been jury rigged to a Human made laptop that sat on top of it, a rat’s nest of cables connecting the two. There was a holoprojector built into the desk, a jumble of images floating over it. He waved them in and gestured to the chairs across from him, “Please, sit.”
Alex was quick to oblige, glad to be just some guy for the moment. Carbon didn’t seem to mind either, taking the seat beside him without a word. Aetena was the first green Tsla’o Alex had seen, sort of a dark forest green with jade stripes visible on his neck. Apparently a bit of a rarity given how often he saw the other colors on the ship.
“I am sorry to keep you waiting, the connection to your Solanet has gone down. Despite that, I believe I have enough saved locally to begin the process.” Lyshen trailed off, lost between the two displays before closing a dozen images from the holo. He picked a pen up from the table and arranged the remaining pictures neatly, four different coats of arms that claimed to belong to a Sorenson. The red enamel barrel blurred into an arc as he spun the pen in his fingers, voice picking up speed as he locked on to Alex. “There is a large amount of heraldry available for your surname, do you know which coat of arms belongs to your particular family?”
There was a deer, a deer head, a rearing horse and a weird shaped star. Maybe it was a flower, or a drip of paint. They were all surrounded by leaves and the occasional knight’s helmet. Alex wasn’t sure what any of it meant and up until now, he’d never even thought about it. Knights and damsels in distress had never really been his thing. “Uh, can’t say that I do, no.”
“Mmh. What geographic region does your lineage trace back to? I could find no significant references to the Berkley Soresons on your Solanet.” He leaned back and the pen continued to trace crimson circles in his hand.
“The name comes from Europe, but the last couple of generations have lived in California, and America before that for who knows how long... We’re from a little bit of everywhere.” It was an inside joke with the family, which had ties back into nearly every corner of the globe at this point. Now they had a relative from somewhere way off the globe as well.
That puzzled Aetena, ears flicking as he turned back to the Human screen and picked over the keyboard slowly. He didn’t like what he found. “All of these originate from the continent of Europe. Do you happen to know which country?”
“No, I’m not sure. Had an uncle do the family tree thing once, but between the civil wars and The Collapse, the lineage got spotty about a hundred years ago.” Alex wasn’t really into the whole ancestry thing once you got outside of living relatives. It was novel, sure, but right now all he really wanted to do was ask if he could borrow that Solanet access when it came back up. The rest of the ship had access to the Confed’s milnet, which tightly restricted what he could be sending across it - he just wanted to download a couple of movies and some music, but milnet barely overlapped with the wider public network.
Lyshen set his hand down and the pen switched back and forth like a metronome, clicking on his desk at the end of each arc. He closed his eyes for a moment, jaw working silently before he closed the images and started pulling up new ones. “Perhaps we should move on to other aspects of this endeavor. As I have been told that you wish to integrate Tsla’o and Human cultures in your marriage, I had intended to blend the existing Tshalan sigil with some of the Sorenson family heraldry. I thought it would be best to use the gear-star surround from the Princess’ family crest as a base to build from. Something that is immediately familiar to Tsla’o, to put the viewer at ease. As it is indicative of starship commands, exploration and the outer colonies, it will solidly represent both of you and the way you met.”
Alex raised an eyebrow at Carbon, “sound reasonable?” He had no idea if it was or not, but it did sound like it. Also, if they were serious about integrating parts of Tsla’o and Human cultures, they needed to actually get on that.
“Yes. I agree, that would be a good place to start.”
“Thank you.” He busied himself bringing up a few more pictures, rough combinations of the ten point gear-star and the various items from the Sorenson crests, bits of decoration and detail work.
The door chimed behind them and Lyshen stopped with a sharp glare. He eyed the clock and sighed, a whispered curse under his breath before he set his pen down and straightened up. “Come.”
There was a soldier partially concealed behind the door, the rank plate on his uniform loaded with details, not that Alex could read them yet. He swept the room with a rifle as he entered, the short barrel ending up pointed just a hair under Alex’s sternum. A pair of soldiers took up positions on either side of the door and covered him, a few more lined up in the waiting room.
When he spoke, it was crisp and authoritative. “Please back away from the Human.”
 
First Prev
*****
Never a dull moment on that ship.
Art pile: Carbon reference sheet. Art by Tyo_Dem

This is a massive yap, paste this into a text to speech program.
Can we not be so toxic to newer players or those who are struggling to learn the game in general?
This is a big issue for leveling dungeons in particular because everyone wants to go as fast as possible and will kick off whenever something goes wrong or if they mess up a skip and pull trash.
The way you treat players (newer, returning or veteran alike) will shape their perspective of the game and the community as a whole.
My time as a guide has properly exposed me to how malicious, nasty and cruel these players can be for the most tiny of reasons.
My example of this is during a Temple of the Jade Serpent run my friend (at this point she had been playing retail for about a week, she was learning how to heal and I to tank) and I actually wanted to complete the full dungeon because in all the other runs we’ve done it’s always been the skip (for some reason when you select MoP in Chromie Time the only dungeon you can get is ToJS for a while, eventually you’ll get Stormstout Brewery).
I asked if it was okay if we did the full for the quest as opposed to the skip. Nobody said a word so I assumed it’s fine. After Wise Mari dies we head back to aid Lorewalker Stonestep, except a DPS - the Hunter. They ask “wtf are you doing” and I explain to them that we’re doing the second boss for the full quest, during this I accidentally pulled too many mobs and caused a wipe. The Hunter takes this time to shit talk us and spew pure hatred and filth at myself and my friend.
According to my friend he also initiated a vote kick which failed, then another vote kick was started but for the Hunter. It succeeded and he was removed, then I got a bunch of hateful whispers from a level 1 Hunter which was most likely them. I can’t repeat what was said because of ToS but it wasn’t anything good.
I don’t usually care for interactions like this because I’m used to it as I’m sure most people are who’ve played this game for years. However if it was a new player instead of myself that person would’ve likely scared them away from the game, that type of behaviour and reaction to something so small is insane.
Please, if you see a player being abused in chat by another don’t just sit and watch. Become a guide for at least a month and help out those baby murlocs so they have a reason to keep playing again, I promise you that it does change your perspective of the game too.
Don’t be the reason someone leaves, be a reason they continue to play.

Hello all,
I (23F) got my first in person job at a CPA firm two months after I graduated college. I've worked professionally before but never in Public Accounting, always in smaller team settings with a more laid back type of operation. I'd say I'm adjusting fairly well.
Everyone I work with, at large, is at or nearing retirement age. There's more of the "older" generations than people my age, but I don't mind.
The office has a small kitchen area with a full size fridge for employees to store their lunch, snacks, coffee creamer, etc. I noticed pretty early on that my snacks, parts of my lunch and my coffee creamer were being taken/used. I don't know if this is normal (I feel like it isn't) or because I didn't label my food (once again, reminder this is my first "by the book" coporate job).
I take it upon myself to write "Maddy's. Do not touch!" On all of my food items in the fridge from now on to avoid having to go out and buy lunch ot avoid my snacks being mistaken as "office snacks" (let the record show, there isn't just snacks laying around for people to have so I'm genuinely unsure why someone would take food from the office fridge and assume it's fair game).
Today my boss catches me at the fridge grabbing one of my snacks that's clearly labeled and she tells me that's "extremely rude" and "poor office etiquette" to label my food "Maddy's, do not touch" and I instead should've labeled it "Please do not use". She told me I work with these people (my coworkers) every day and I "need to be nicer".
So if labeling my food in the fridge is poor office etiquette, what do we call stealing my snacks and lunch on multiple occasions? I truly don't think I'm being a dick here. I'm not sure if this is a "generational difference" issue or what. The mental gymnastics my boss is going through to make me feel like an asshole when I'm the one who has had their lunch stolen on multiple occasions makes no sense to me.
Am I the asshole?

TLDR: I am being pressured to disclose diagnosis but anti-discrimination laws have loopholes employers and bosses exploit and I’m terrified they’ll use this against me.
In the UK there are laws that supposedly protect me from discrimination in the event of disclosing a disability. However, in practice this is rarely the case. I know many people who have been forced out their jobs either through competence or forced to retire on health grounds.
I’ve been in the same job since 2015 so have a few protections like protection from unfair dismissal but I am not protected for dismissal on grounds of conduct, performance, or attendance.
In 2015/16 I disclosed I had mental health issues (unaware of my true diagnoses) and my boss went out of his way to make things difficult for me. I was given a terrible end of year rating and he tried to dismiss me on conduct grounds.
He also believed all requests for reasonable adjustments were unreasonable in the role and demanded I do the job as advertised or I leave. I tried to raise it with HR but they were useless instead saying I had to raise it with the manager who was being a douche.
Problem is my experience here is not unique. I know people in a variety of companies in a variety of fields who have all experienced similar.
Professionals however are out of touch and do not believe such discrimination exists. It’s part of the reason why I’m actively asking for discharge from them.
If I did decide to disclose at work I would first contact HR stating that I am planning to tell my boss and therefore disclose to them. I’d also tell them about what happened when I disclosed mental illness in 2015/16 but this would offer me limited protections as they would argue my boss may still decide I’m incapable of doing the job I’ve been doing for 9 years!

FYI, this is a story COLLECTION. Lots of standalones technically. So, you can basically start to read at any chapter, no pre-read of the other chapters needed technically (other than maybe getting better descriptions of characters than: Adam Vir=human, Krill=antlike alien, Sunny=tall alien, Conn=telepathic alien). The numbers are (mostly) only for organization of posts and continuity.
OC Written by Charlie Stastarrfallknightrise,
Typed up and then posted here by me.
Proofreading and language check for some chapters by u/Finbar9800 u/BakeGullible9975 u/Didnotseemecomein and u/medium_jock
Future Lore and fact check done by me.
The plot thickens!
Previous First [Next](link)
Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
The Rundi pilot maneuvered his ship around a chunk of space debris, cutting low as he watched the slow and leisurely path of the rocket as it began on its trajectory towards the moon. Radar was almost impossible to use in the deadly debris field these humans called an orbit, so it was up to his eyes to make out any incoming hostiles.
They circled low and then wide around the slow-moving rocket, keeping their distance while also keeping an eye out. It was easy enough, as the drone was covered in cameras and sensors, which allowed them to see from almost every angle. A human might have been better at this, but right now they were the only ones they could trust.
[…]
A green folder rested atop the lectern as the President of the UN gave her halting, and to the chairwoman it seemed, unenthusiastic speech. The humans down below didn't seem to notice, making her wonder if she was simply imagining things, though a part of her said that was not the case.
She had been suspicious of the UN president from the very beginning, the very beginning when she was given power after the first launch of the enterprise, and they had been forced to deal with her during treaty negotiations. At every step there seemed to be some sort of obstacle, something wrong, some reason that the humans could just not accept. It went on behind closed doors and in quiet whispered conversations. But luckily for them, people like Adam Vir and Admiral Kelly had been there to smooth things over between the two factions.
The chairwoman knew better than most, that there were only a few humans in the galaxy holding everything together.
And the last thing she wanted was bad relations, or to go to war with this species. It would be a nightmare.
She shifted in her seat as she listened to the speech. The valley below her still had traces of smoke let off by burning so much fossil fuel at once. She imagined that such a stunt wasn't entirely great for the atmosphere of the planet, though as far as she knew humans tended to run on sustainable clean energy these days.
The Chairwoman stepped down from the little podium and into the back where she could not be seen, leaning in so she could hear the words whispered from her assistant,
"The drones are deployed, and so far we have not met any resistance.”
She nodded slowly,
"Good work, keep an eye out."
[…]
The UN president felt her fingers digging into the soft paper of the green folder. The red one was lying discarded under the lectern, and she was having trouble concentrating, forcing herself to remember that this wasn't over. She glanced into the crowd, expecting to see that strange white face staring up at her from the throng of people, but there was nothing.
Had she seen it as in her imagination, or did she really see an alien face staring back at her?
She glanced upwards, towards where the rocket had vanished, only half paying attention to the practiced words that dribbled from her mouth. She finished her speech and the people below clapped and cheered heartily, though she didn't much feel like clapping with them.
She turned on her heel and walked down to the back of the stage to where her entourage was waiting for her. Admiral Massie was sitting on one end and Admiral Kelly was sitting at the other, the two of them doing their damndest to ignore each other at all costs.
She sat down next to Admiral Massie, arms crossed over her chest as he leaned in to speak with her.
"That didn't exactly go as planned."
He muttered softly.
"It will if your men are ready."
She snapped back, her palms cold and sweaty.
Admiral Massie nodded,
"Of course, they should come out when they reach the densest part of the debris field, that way we can make it look like some unexpected collision."
He glanced towards the lectern,
"So I would keep a hold of that red folder of yours."
On the other set of chairs, Admiral Kelly was giving them a sidelong glance. Everyone knew that she was in Admiral Vir's camp, licking his boots at every opportunity. It would be within their best interest to keep silent when she was around.
The UN president leaned back in her seat,
"You should be on your way, Admiral. We will have time to talk later."
He stood and nodded slowly,
"Of course madame president."
He turned to walk away, catching the eye of Admiral Kelly as he stepped past. The two of them didn't much like each other, though as the head of the OGI (Office of Galactic intelligence) Admiral Massie had enough pull to keep Kelly in her place.
The UN president turned her head away. Not wanting to draw attention to herself.
[…]
Admiral Kelly glanced over at the UN president as Admiral Massie passed by. There was something about those two spending time together that she didn't like. Granted it was more than likely the two of them were having some sweaty, wrinkly liaisons out of hours which she didn't really want to think about, but if that was the case then he could easily be pressing his planetary isolationist views off on her.
Kelly did not think highly of the UN presidency. Right now, it seemed mostly concerned with power and political favors with the people, rather than doing the right thing. Plus, she found the president herself to be superficially charming, but easily manipulated by the wrong people. Fear mongering worked the best on her, which is why she worried about Massie and his effect on her to begin with.
She found herself digging her nails into her palms as she thought about it.
”Please help us.”
Admiral Kelly shot up in her seat looking around as she tried to find the source of the noise, or the voice. She turned in her seat expecting to find someone whispering in her ear, but there was nothing. She pressed at the implant along the side of her neck wondering if someone had called her and she just hadn't noticed?
”Look up.”
Jolted again, lifting her eyes towards the sky and the burning sun. She threw up a hand to block her vision, and as she did, she thought she saw a shape floating there against the backdrop of the sun.
She squinted hard trying to make it out but was having trouble.
”Now look into the crowd.”
She turned her head down, still not sure where the sound could be coming from, but as she looked into the crowd, she saw a strange sight. One of the people was wearing a dark hoodie, and was turned away from the direction which the rest of the crowd was facing. Their hood was pulled low, but ever so subtly, they lifted their head to reveal a porcelain white face, with large dark eyes.
Admiral Kelly went very still as she stared at the starborn.
“Not a starborn, a halfbreed. My name is Eris, I am Admiral Vir's... daughter”
Oh... oh, yes she had heard about the starborn hybrid from one of his reports.
"What do you want."
She mouthed quietly.
“We need your help, the UN president is planning to have Admiral Vir Killed, and Admiral Massie is on his way to make the order, please, you have to do something."
Admiral Kelly jolted to her feet, very quickly glancing at the UN president in shock and horror before she was able to capture her emotions. The UN president looked up to her sudden movement, and Admiral Kelly had to fight to keep her face neutral as the woman looked up at her.
"Are you feeling well Admiral?”
She could feel the sweat dripping down her face and the nape of her neck, but she remained as calm as possible as she took a deep breath,
"I... Am suddenly very dizzy. I think it's the heat."
"You should sit down, have someone bring you some water."
The woman said, her voice calm and clear as if she hadn't just ordered the murder of Adam Vir.
"No I... I think I need to walk for a minute and find some shade. You will excuse me?"
The UN president shrugged and turned back to staring at the sky, giving Admiral Kelly time to step forward and hurry after General Massi's retreating figure.
[…]
General Massie stepped into mission control and walked down the blank empty corridors. No one was here, they were all either in the control room or out celebrating the successful launch. It had been a sight to see, two-thousand-year-old technology working for one more time, but personally General Massie saw it as completely obsolete and a useless waste of government capital.
That was something they could have been using to help fortify earth's defense nexus. Out of all the useless things Admiral Vir had supported, at least he had agreed that they needed SOME form of defense against extraterrestrial attack.
General Massie made a face…
Though he wouldn't doubt Admiral Vir would have been totally fine leaving their planet with its pants down in order to let those Xenos fuck them over.
Everyone and their dog knew that Admiral Vir preferred alien cock over his own kind.
The thought made Admiral Massie cringe.
It was a well-kept secret among the UNSC, but the man wasn't nearly as secretive as he liked to think he was. Rumors of his infatuation with the stupid blue beetle alien had reached command almost as soon as it began. The only reason they didn't allow it to leak was that it would make the UNSC look bad to the rest of earth.
And Jupiter how he hated that man.
Stupid, juvenile egotistical xeno fucker!
Today was the day all of that came to an end!
He cut right, just before the doors to mission control and walked down two more hallways, finally opening a small side door into, what might have looked from the outside, like an equipment closet. He stepped over a mop and bucket and sat down at an old console, which he fired up with the flick of a button.
"Flight 1 this is Earth 1 over."
"Roger earth one this if slight one, in position over."
He turned on the screen, giving himself time to look the radar over, as twenty dots appeared on screen. Those were twenty Thunderhawks they had slowly appropriated over the intervening year.
With a place as big as the universe to cover, it was pretty easy to lose a few jets in the shuffle. He could see them now, illuminated as little green dots on his screen, hiding in the debris.
"Flight one this is Earth one, Operation “After Apollo” is go. Now remember boys and girls, make it look like an accident. Over."
*"Roger that Earth one. Over and out."
[…]
"You TRAITOR!"
Admiral Massie spun in his seat, eyes wide and wild as Admiral Kelly stood in the doorway. She could feel her skin growing hot with absolute rage as she stalked forward over the open floor. In one hand she held up the small recording device Conn had handed to her outside the building, and on it held proof of this man's order. On the screen behind him twenty little dots burst to life.
She was too late.
The man slowly got to his feet as Kelly aimed her handgun at him, her grip steady, her aim true.
"Call off your dogs."
She snarled,
Admiral Massie slowly lifted his hands, before slowly leaning forward in his seat towards the intercom button. She stepped forward, watching him intently as he leaned over the console pressing down on the button.
"Flight one this is earth one..."
Her eyes flickered up to the screen waiting to see them pause.
But before she knew what was happening an elbow came up striking her on the hand and causing the gun to spin out of her grip. Admiral Massie turned and tackled her to the floor, his nearly 300 lb body crushing her to the floor.
The wind was knocked out of her and she gasped as he struggled to pin her to the ground.
Her hat had flown off and her bun became undone as he drew back a fist to punch her. She was able to block it with her forearms as he raged and went for her face. The blows rained down on her from above with an onslaught of power she wasn't expecting but should have.
She took another gasping breath, and then with a surge of adrenaline she bucked, throwing him forward where she grabbed one of his arms and bucked again, forcing him to his side and onto his back. Still gripping his arm, she threw herself sideways, throwing her legs over his chest and struggling with his arm to pull it flat.
He kicked and grabbed at her legs with his other hand painfully gripping her calves as his nails dug into her skin and drew blood. The pain was incredible, but she finally got his arm down tucked tight to her chest, her legs across his chest, and then she jerked her hips sharply upward.
Admiral Massie screamed as his elbow snapped backwards.
She let go of him and scrambled towards the console, but at the last moment he grabbed her by the foot and hauled her back to the ground, one arm hanging limp and useless at his side. He clawed at her with one hand, and she rolled onto her back, kicking up at his face with her boot catching him square in the chin.
He staggered back as she crawled to the console and reached to adjust the frequency, ready to call in lunar support.
There was a sharp click behind her, and she froze, turning in her seat to find Admiral Massie standing behind her gun held in his good hand.
Blood leaked from his nose and down onto the front of his uniform, staining the grey fabric red,
"Nice try, Kelly."
[…]
Donovan Red waited, spinning slowly as he watched the progress of the distant rocket. Inside his helmet his breathing was cold and calm as, ranging all around him, his other men and women waited as well. Their ships had been outfitted with proper weapons as they had ridden here in the cargo hold of the Omen. The group of them weren't soldiers or trained fighter pilots, so he didn't imagine this would be easy, but it was going to have to do.
"Red, this is Apollo 11 do you copy?”
"Yeah Cinderella, I copy."
"See anything?"
"Nope not a..."
He paused,
"Wait..."
There was something, something he thought he saw detach itself from another piece of space junk,
"Hold that thought Apollo."
He detached from his own bit of space junk and inched forward.
A thunderhawk? What would one of those be doing here?
It began to accelerate.
He accelerated after it.
Up ahead the rocket was growing larger and larger in his view.
“Thunderhawk has made lock.”
The cool female voice said from his console.
"Oh shit, Admiral r-“
He didn't have time to finish his sentence as a small ball-like-silver ship came pelting down from nowhere, blasting the Thunderhawk in the wing with a sharp burst of laser fire. It's wing exploded and it went careening in the opposite direction as the silver ball whizzed past.
"What the fuck!?"
He turned to fly after it, but was stopped.
"Red, this is Wendy, stand down that's a Rundi UAV."
"Rundi? I thought it was the Rundi we were worried about!?”
He called in confusion.
"Yeah, but that thunderhawk had locked in on Apollo 11. It looks like the Rundi are helping."
He grunted and cursed under his breath,
"Boys and girls, if you see a silver ball stand down, those are on our side."
Just then another Thunderhawk shot over his head. He cursed again and pulled himself into a sharp upward turn cutting after the Thunderhawk and locking on. His lock cut off their attempts to shoot down the rocket, and they were forced to dive under as he followed after. He followed, spinning right and left around debris as the Thunderhawk attempted to escape.
It cut upward, just in time for a bright pink jet with graffiti words on the side to shoot out of nowhere.
The Thunderhawk exploded in a cloud of debris as Wendy roared by.
"Good shot, girl!”
He said over his radio.
"Thanks boss. Now let’s give them hell!"
[…]
Admiral Vir floated before the console, knuckles white and unable to do anything. A silent explosion flashed in his vision to the right as quickly as it had begun. Richards and Chavez started with wide eyes and dropped mouths.
"Admiral what the hell is going on!?”
Adam took a deep breath,
"It seems as if we are under attack."
The two of them exchanged glances,
"From who? What the fuck!?!"
Adam turned where he stood to look at the two of them,
"I am sorry I got you two into this mess, but the isolationists have been gunning for me for a few months now, and it seems as if now things have come to a head.”
"What are we going to do!"
"Radio Houston."
Chavez hurried to do as ordered, but when she did, they heard only static,
"Shit... Something is jamming our coms."
Adam took a deep breath,
"Well I guess all we have is Donovan to protect us. Lets' hope they do it right."
[…]
Admiral Massie laughed,
"You're as dumb as you look Kelly."
She stood, slowly wiping blood from her cheek as she turned to look down the barrel of the gun. Her own gun.
She didn't generally tend to agree with Massie, but this time he did have a point. Surprisingly though she was very calm,
"You aren't going to get away with this."
She glanced over to where the little silver recording device lay in the shadows under one of the chairs.
Massie was too amped to notice.
"Doesn't matter. I will have done my duty to my planet and my people, saving them from alien lovers like you and that bastard Vir."
"Whose Idea was this, the President or yours?"
She held her hands out to the side.
"Do you think that dipshit was smart enough to come up with a plan like mine?"
Kelly raised an eyebrow,
"Is it wise to incriminate your friends along with you?"
"That bitch? Heh, I could care less. And if I am going down, she is going down with me. The president may think it was all her idea, but it was mine all along, she was following my orders, whether she believes it or not, and once Adam Vir and YOU are dead, then it doesn't matter what we did, because diplomatic relations will dissolve, and it will be all over."
He lifted the gun to her face,
"Goodbye Kelly."
She remained very still as the shadow fell over him from behind,
"May I say one last thing?”
He paused.
"Turn around."
"Very funny!”
He lifted the gun again and pulled the trigger.
There was a sharp crack and thud as metal hit metal. Kelly flinched and held up her hands, but opened her eye after a moment as no pain came.
Admiral Massie lay on the floor face down.
Kelly reached down quickly to grab her gun, looking up to where Sunny was standing in the doorway holding her pearlescent white spear. Behind her floated the starborn Conn and the hybrid.
She took a deep breath,
"Great timing you three.”
Sunny nodded,
"Anytime."
Admiral Kelly turned and lunged for the comms, switching the frequency to the lunar station only to find she couldn't get through,
"Damn it."
She cursed, turning to look at Sunny and the others,
"I was too late, the ships have already been deployed."
She paused and looked down, grabbing the recording device from off the floor tossing it to the hybrid who caught it with some difficulty,
"Run that to one of the media outlets, convince them it is important and leak it as soon as you can. We don't want her to have time to cover her own ass."
Eris nodded and shot off in the other direction.
Sunny knelt down to help her restrain Admiral Massie.
Just then the sound of feet came thundering up the hall and they looked up to see the Chairwoman of the GA and her assistants skid around a corner. Sunny's eyes narrowed as she crouched low leveling her spear.
"Did you catch him?"
The Chairwoman asked,
"No thanks to you."
Sunny snarled, but the chairwoman waved her off,
"I lost contact with my drones, but they should be out helping to protect Admiral Vir. I am sorry I couldn't do more, but it was all I could do not to show my hand too early."
Admiral Kelly stood slowly,
"You knew about this?"
The charwoman shook her head,
"Not this specifically, but I have been trying to find the source of the assassination attempts on Admiral Vir's life. I've had discreet escorts on him for the past few months while I tried getting in contact with my people in the criminal underworld and I called the hit on him with those pirates, knowing who Captain Kell was, hoping that he could get more information out of the pirates that I could."
Sunny stared at her rage flickering across her face,
"You called a hit on him!"
The charwoman did not seem perturbed,
"Those pirates couldn't have... How do the humans say... Hit their way out of a paper bag. I have been attempting to come in contact with the leader of the anti-alliance for the past few months. I have been trying to convince them I am on their side, and that was part of my ruse, as well as knowing Admiral Vir was captain Kell. During my investigation it became clear that someone within the UN was involved though I couldn't have said who."
"And why should we believe you aren't just covering your own ass?”
The chairwoman hissed,
”Do you really think I want to make an enemy out of the strongest species in the galaxy!? Not on your life! I am not stupid. Besides, I owe Admiral Vir my life. I admit I have done some irreparable things in order to keep the alliance going, but those moves were calculated, and Vir was always protected.”
[…]
One of the silver UAV's exploded and Red had to dodge to the side to avoid the flying debris. He cut right and then left keeping as fast as he could possibly go as he cut up through the chunks of metal and locked onto the back of a Thunderhawk. There was a sharp click and then a silent explosion which he rolled out of the way to avoid. He had sent one of his men off to make contact with earths forces for backup.
They were good, but these men and women were made for combat, and despite their best work only four out of twenty of them had been destroyed, and their numbers were dwindling fast. He cut right before one of the Thunderhawk’s, forcing it to turn away from the rocket and cut down in another direction. He could only imagine the fear of those inside the rocket as they watched helplessly at the fight raging on around them.
He spun down and under, cutting off another Thunderhawk coming in the opposite direction.
There was no way they were going to keep up with this for long.
Their only chance was earths forces reacting quickly.
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Want to find a specific one, see the whole list or check fanart?
Here is the link to the master-post.
Intro post by me
OC-whole collection
Patreon of the author
Thanks for reading! As you saw in the title, this is a cross posted story written by starrfallknightrise and I'll just upload some of it here for you guys, if you are interested and want to read ahead, the original story-collection can be found on tumblr or wattpad to read for free. (link above this text under "OC:..." ) It is the Empyrean Iris story collection by starfallknightrise. Also, if you want to know more about the story collection i made an intro post about it, so feel free to check that out to see what other great characters to look forward to! (Link also above this text). I have no affiliations to the author; just thought I’d share some of the great stories you might enjoy a lot!
Obviously, I have Charlie’s permission to post this and for the people already knowing the stories, or starting to read them: If you follow the link and check out the story you will see some differences. I made some small (non-artistic) changes, mainly correcting writing mistakes, pronoun correction and some small additional info here and there of things which were not thought of/forgotten or even were added/changed in later stories (like the “USS->UNSC” prefix of Stabby, Chalar=/->Sunny etc). As well as some "biggemajor" changes in descriptions and info’s for the same stringency/continuity reason. That can be explained by the story collection being, well a story collection at the start with many standalone-stories just starring the same people, but later on it gets more to a stringent storyline with backstories and throwbacks. (For example Adam Vir has some HEAVY scars over his body, following his bones, which were not really talked about up till half the collection, where it says it covers his whole body and you find out via backflash that he had them the whole time and how he got them, they just weren't mentioned before. However, I would think a doctor would at least see these scars before that, especially since he gets analyzed, treated and goes shirtless/in T-shirts in some stories). So TLDR: Writing and some descriptions are slightly changed, with full OK from the author, since he himself did not bother to correct these things before.

One of the five diagnostic categories for dementia in the DSM is on the verbal axis. With Biden and Trump, we have ample speech samples to make a definitive diagnoses.
Biden’s speech patterns show that he is again mentally (since 1980) faster than Trump is.
However, Trump can be clearly diagnosed with rapidly worsening dementia. Neither men showed significant signs of dementia in 1980. Today, only Trump’s speech indicates dementia. And the symptoms are accelerating.
This coupled with the malignant personality disorder is a toxic combination.
Do these facts concern you?

I've started my first engineering position at a small company a couple years ago. I am the only engineer working there. My boss started this small manufacturing company over 20 years ago. He's getting old and wants to retire and hand over the company to me within the next 5 years. It sounds like a good deal but as of right now I'm not really enjoying the daily operations that carry out due to my boss not reinvesting the companies' profits to enhance our production lead times and quality. Even when we are completely understaffed and behind on orders, he refuses to lend a helping hand. It seems like he keeps most of the profits to himself and doesn't really care about the late deliveries to the customer otherwise he would lend a helping hand, right? My question is this, should I stick around and take charge of the company OR cut my losses and look for a better position at a bigger company? I'd really appreciate any insight, thoughts, advice, or even relevant experiences that you've all may have had.

i thought it would kind of fun to flip the script and have ice man in mavericks role and maverick in ice mans role.
boy oh boy do you really cut out a lot of the side plot like penny, rooster drama.
In Universe #2, Iceman didn't make #1 in Top Gun; he made #2. Maverick made #1 in the class of 1986.
In 2022, we see Iceman kiss his wife goodbye as he leaves his house in the suburbs. He gets in his car and drives to the experimental aircraft testing base.
Iceman arrives and steps out of his car, walking to the hangar with the Darkstar plane, greeted by Hondo.
Hondo informs Iceman that Admiral Cain is going to shut them down for underperforming and shuffling money to this drone program.
We see Iceman say they're going to get the plane to Mach 10.
Iceman does the pre-flight check-up, puts on the suit, and walks to the Darkstar to prep it for launch.
The Darkstar takes off. Admiral Cain arrives and asks what the hell is going on.
Iceman puts the Darkstar through her paces and eventually hits Mach 10. Unlike Maverick, he doesn't go past it and throttles down after hitting Mach 10, bringing her back to base.
After landing, he is escorted by shore patrol to Admiral Cain's office.
At Cain's office, he reads out Iceman's record: citations, 38 years of service, combat medals, only man to shoot down 2 enemy planes in 40 years, distinguished.
"Yet you can’t get a promotion, you won’t retire, and despite your best efforts, you refuse to die. You should be at least a 4-star admiral by now, if not a senator. Yet here you are: Captain. Why is that?" Cain questions.
Iceman just bluntly says he likes flying.
Cain says that the future is with unmanned drones and Iceman's kind is headed to extinction. Cain received a call from upstairs from Iceman's guardian angel and that he's to be transferred to Top Gun.
Cain dismisses Iceman.
Iceman then leaves and gets in his car and drives to North Island.
We see Iceman arrive at Top Gun. He walks through the lobby and on the wall, he sees a portrait of 4-star Admiral Pete Mitchell, Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet, along with a photo of Iceman and Maverick shaking hands on the hanger after that eventful mission in the Indian Ocean.
We see Iceman meet and greet Rear Admiral Bates aka Warlock and 3-star Admiral Beau Simpson, Air Boss aka Cyclone. They trade quick pleasantries before going over the mission: unsanctioned uranium enrichment plant built in violation of a multilateral NATO treaty.
Iceman goes through a rundown of what would need to be done with the F18s and precision-guided laser bombs.
Iceman assumes he'll be the one to fly the mission but Simpson tells him he's here to teach not actually fly the mission.
Simpson shows Iceman the pool of Top Gun grads that will be participating in the mission.
Iceman is confused.
Simpson tells Iceman that Iceman is only here at the request of Admiral Mitchell someone that Simpson admires and Mitchell believes Iceman has something to still offer the navy, what that is Simpson can't see it.
Iceman takes the job.
Iceman is not much of a drinker so he doesn't go to the bar and is home enjoying a glass of ice-cold water with his wife.
So next day, Iceman drives to the Top Gun school for evaluation and review of the candidates.
The 12 pilots are introduced to Admiral Bates and Bates says with the new 5th generation fighters the USAF and the USN no longer have total air superiority.
Six of them will be chosen and 6 will be in reserve.
Bates introduces the 12 pilots to Captain Tom Iceman Kazansky, one of the finest pilots that Top Gun ever produced.
Iceman says he will see what each one of them can do because it's all about the pilot.
They run through the fighter maneuvers. Iceman tests them and schools all of them. The only one to even give Iceman any kind of trouble was Hangman but Hangman also is no match for Iceman. They all have to do 200 pushups: Phoenix, Bob, Payback, Fanboy, Hangman, Coyote, Hammer, Fritz, Halo, Yale, Harvard, Omaha.
Hangman and Coyote look at pictures of old Top Gun class graduates and see a picture of Iceman with Maverick.
This is the second day and they actually run through the drills of the bombing mission.
Phase one of the mission will be a low-level ingress attacking in two-plane teams.
You’ll fly along this narrow canyon to your target.
Radar-guided surface-to-air missiles defend the area.
These SAMs, they’re lethal.
But they were designed to protect the skies above, not the canyon below.
That’s because the enemy knows no one is insane enough to try and fly below them.
That’s exactly what I’m gonna train you to do.
On the day, your altitude will be 100 feet maximum.
You exceed this altitude…
[Radar beeping] Radar will spot you and you’re dead.
[Beeping intensifies]
Your airspeed will be 660 knots minimum.
Time to target: Two and a half minutes.
That’s because fifth-generation fighters wait at an air base nearby.
In a head-to-head with these planes in your F-18s, you’re dead.
That’s why you need to get in, hit your target and be gone before these planes even have a chance of catching you.
This makes time your greatest adversary.
You’ll fly a route in your nav system that simulates the canyon.
The candidates all failed either crashing into the wall, each other, or going above the altitude limit triggering the SAM missiles.
At the debriefing, Hangman and Rooster almost come to blows because Hangman basically says Rooster sucks.
Kazansky decides to pay Admiral Mitchell a visit at his home, a big mansion.
Admiral Mitchell's aide-de-camp opens the door for Kazansky.
There’s nothing else they can do.
Even speaking is painful now.
[Michell coughing]
[Coughs]
[Coughing]
Admiral.
Kazansky: How’s my wingman?
[Typing]
Please, don’t worry about me.
What can I do for you?
[Sighs]
All right.
[Chuckles]
Kazansky: these kids suck.
[Typing]
The mission is less than three weeks away.
The kid’s not ready.
[Typing]
Mav, please, don’t ask me to send someone else to die.
Please don’t…
Don’t ask me to send him.
Send me.
I don’t know how.
[Sighs]
I’m not a teacher, Mav.
I’m a fighter pilot.
A naval aviator.
It’s not what I am.
It’s who I am.
How do I teach that?
It’s not what the Navy wants.
That’s why they canned me the last time.
The only reason I’m here is you.
If I send him on this mission, they might never come home.
And if I don’t send him, he’ll never forgive me.

• A bit of backstory: Iceman, unlike in Earth 1, feels responsible for Goose's death since Mav and Goose got caught in his jet wash and Goose got his neck broken when they tried to eject out of a flat spin.

[Sighs]
I know.
I know.
[Exhales deeply]
[Grunts]
[Coughs]
[Hoarsely] The Navy needs Iceman.
The kid needs Iceman.
That’s why I fought for you.
That’s why you’re still here.
Thank you, Mav, for everything.
One last thing.
Who’s the better pilot?
You or me?
Kazansky: you obviously, you got 1st place.
[Laughing]
Instead of wasting time playing football, Iceman has them run more drills over and over again to get it right.
[Warlock] Good morning.
The uranium enrichment plant that is your target will be operational earlier than expected.
Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in ten days’ time.
As a result, your mission has been moved up one week in order to avoid contaminating the target valley with radiation.
Kazansky: Sir, no one here has successfully flown a low-level course.
Nevertheless, you’ve been ordered to move on.
Captain.
[Iceman] We have one week left to focus on phase two.
It’s the most difficult stage of the mission.
It’s a pop-up strike with a steep dive, requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles.
Two pairs of F-18s will fly in a welded wing formation.
Teamwork. Precise coordination of these aircraft is essential to both the mission’s success and your survival.
As you know, the plant rests between two mountains.
On final approach, you’ll invert directly into a steep dive.
This allows you to maintain the lowest possible altitude and the only possible attack angle.
Your target is an impact point less than three meters wide.
The two-seat aircraft will paint the target with a laser bull’s-eye. [Beeping]
The first pair will breach the reactor by dropping a laser-guided bomb on an exposed ventilation hatch.
This will create an opening for the second pair.
That’s miracle number one.
The second team will deliver the kill shot…
[Target lock beeps]
And destroy the target.
That’s miracle number two.
If either team misses the target…
That’s a miss. [Iceman] The mission is a failure.
Egress is a steep high-g climb out to avoid hitting this mountain.
A steep climb at that speed, you’re pulling at least eight G’s.
Nine, minimum.
Rooster: The stress limit of the F-18’s airframe is 7.5.
[Iceman] That’s the accepted limit.
To survive this mission, you’ll pull beyond that, even if it means bending your airframe.
You’ll be pulling so hard, you’ll weigh close to 2,000 pounds, your skull crushing your spine…
Your lungs imploding like an elephant’s sitting on your chest,
fighting with everything you have just to keep from blacking out.
And this is where you’ll be at your most vulnerable.
This is coffin corner.
Assuming you avoid crashing into this mountain, you’ll climb straight up into enemy radar while losing all of your airspeed.
Within seconds, you’ll be fired upon by enemy SAMS.
You’ve all faced sustained G’s before, but this…
This is gonna take you and your aircraft to the breaking point.
Phoenix/Bob and Coyote run the course and fail except Coyote crashes his plane and dies.
Then, with a bird strike hitting Phoenix's plane, both engines fail along with their ejection seats, and crash, both die.
Both are ruled as accidents and not held against Iceman.
Admiral Pete Mitchell passes away from throat cancer and Iceman attends his funeral with full military honors.
While Iceman was at Mitchell's funeral, Admiral Simpson thought of grounding Iceman for good but thought what better way than for Iceman to fail and Admiral Simpson will have full evidence to terminate Iceman for good.
Iceman thinks it's better to show them that the course can be done so Iceman himself demonstrates it and successfully completes it with bombing and all with no weapons officer.
Admiral Simpson is shocked as are the other surviving lieutenants in attendance.
With Iceman's amazing flying skills, Simpson just appoints Iceman team leader.
On the aircraft carrier, Iceman has some quick words with Admiral Warlock and Warlock wishes him good luck along with saying his goodbyes.
Iceman picks Payback and Fanboy, Rooster, and Hangman for his mission.
Everyone else will standby on the carrier.
Admiral Simpson in command of the mission.
They run through the mission one more time.
They launch from the carrier.
The supporting destroyers launch their Tomahawk missiles on Admiral Simpson's commands.
While Iceman and his team are en route, radar only detects 2 enemy fighter craft in the air.
The Tomahawks hit their targets and destroy the enemy runways so they can't launch any more planes.
The first pair of planes (Payback, Fanboy) which include Iceman, they hit the target opening up a hole for team 2 to drop the bomb in the reactor.
The second pair (Rooster, Hangman) manage to also hit their target and destroy the reactor.
While everyone is trying to climb out of the mountain, the SAM missiles are triggered and fire missiles at the fighters. Rooster's plane is hit and destroyed.
Admiral Simpson orders all carrier planes to return to the carrier. Hangman, Payback, Fanboy, and Iceman successfully make it back to the carrier.
We see Iceman go home to his wife and the sequence fades to black.
THE END

My stepson (i refer to him as my son, ive raised him since he was 6) and his girlfriend, who were together for 6yrs, gave me a grandchild 2yrs ago. Last year, they split up, with her being the one who initiated the split. No parenting plan through the court. My grandson stays with his mother Sunday night through Friday morning, and my son picks him up from daycare Friday evening, and drives him back to his mother every Sunday.
A little backstop, My wife watched our grandson m-f, and most Saturdays, until he was 18mo old. Even though my son and his girlfriend split up, they still had 6mo left on their apartment lease, so she was in and out of the apartment, often sleeping over, or would stay at her parents house. They have a car financed together, and also have a dog.
For the most part, their split was amicable, with the both of them acting childish at different points. When their lease ran out on the apartment 6mo ago, my son moved in with some friends, and she went to live with her parents full time, and that's when they implemented their parenting plan, which also removed our grandchild from my wife's care during the day, as it didn't work, timewise, for her to drive him all the way here every morning and then drive back every evening as neither one of them lived in the same town as we do anymore, plus I think she just wanted to stick him with paying for daycare, which I know he has an obligation to, atleast half anyways.
Let's get to my son's childish parts, so I can build up to what I need to know...
They had a joint bank account, and my son had a seperate checking account. For the most part, they lived above their means, but my son was trying to save a little bit of money. When they split up, she was "enjoying" her freedom, as she should have been, and hitting the town with her friends. On one such night, my son kept getting notifications on his phone from his solo bank account, which she had a card to, for charges at bars...$35, $75, $130....he attempted to call her to find out if the charges were her, she didn't answer, so he pinged her phone, which he shouldn't have, but they were both still on the same account in his name, and her location corresponded with the general location to where these monies were being spent. In his own words, "if she can't even answer the phone to tell me why she's using this card instead of the joint card, then fuck her" and he went on his banking app and turned the card off.
He was also monitoring her text messages and calls, as once again, same phone plan in his name. At this point, she had turned her location off so he wouldn't know where she was, and I dont blame her, but we're talking about 22yr old kids, and he was hurt that she left him and blah blah blah....I told him he was wrong for snooping on her, and if she wanted to leave him, then that was her decision. During his snooping, he found alot of text messages and phone calls between her and his boss, who is 47 and married with kids. This all came to a head 2 weeks ago, when my son confronted his boss who admitted to sleeping with her 1 time, but "felt bad" so he ended it. My son then called her and confronted her about it, and she told him it was none of his business, which it isn't, but it doesn't make it any less messed up. She admitted to it finally, and also admitted that my sons boss had told her that he was gonna leave his wife for her and that they were gonna be a family, and once she slept with him, he ghosted her. My son, in his infinite wisdom, proceeded to call her a bunch of unsavory names, and made fun of her for the situation. This was on a Wednesday. Friday, he gets a notification from his son's daycare that his son has been picked up (I guess it's set up to where both parents get notified when he gets picked up and dropped off). He calls the daycare and asks them what's going on, as he's been picking him up every Friday for the last 6mo, and they tell him that they have been informed that he's no longer allowed to pick him up, and that they are not getting into the middle of it. He attempts to call the mother, and she has him blocked, same with both the maternal grandparents. A little more backstory, she is American born Hispanic. Her parents have decided to retire, sell their business, and move back to Mexico. They both knew that this was their plan eventually, but didn't know it was gonna be this soon. She had always mentioned her desire to not be away from her parents, but my son was adamant he has no desire to move to/live in Mexico. During their many arguments since the break up, she has threatened, via text message, that she will leave with their child to Mexico and he will never see him again. So, now my son is worried that she is going through with her threat, so he calls the sheriff's department and explains this to them, and they send a deputy to her residence to find out if she's left. They make contact with her, and then they call him back and advise him that she has applied for and been granted a temporary order of protection, claiming physical abuse by him to her and their child, and stalking, and that she fears for her and their child's life.
This is what I know:
My son had already filed a petition with the court to establish a custody agreement prior to all of this because he didn't want her to be able to just jet off to Mexico with their child
My son is listed as the father on the birth certificate There has never been any domestic violence accusations prior to this Her and my wife were close, as she has been a part of our lives for the past 7yrs, and she complained to my wife alot about stuff that made her unhappy in the relationship. She never mentioned anything to her about any abuse whatsoever, physically, verbally, or otherwise. My stepson is very non confrontational. His birth father was a drunk, and very abusive towards him and his mother. Anytime I ever felt the need to raise my voice at him growing up, he would just shut down. If his mother and I ever started arguing about anything, he would leave the room or the house. Even now, if he's over visiting and we even slightly get into it about anything, he will just leave. He said that he's never even raised his hand towards her or his son in anger, ever. Aside from pinging her phone when they first broke up, he's never "tracked" her location, besides, she turned the location off anyways. He says he's never just showed up anywhere she was without her knowing that he was coming.
Three weeks prior to this going down, my son had his son for a solid week while she was on vacation with her friends.
There has been no calls to the police about stalking or abuse.
The dates of the supposed abuse that she put on the TOP were before she went on vacation.
We believe that somebody has coached her into this in an attempt to get full custody so she can move back to Mexico with her parents and take their child.
These are my questions:

1. Does a judge/magistrate not require any proof whatsoever before granting a TOP?
   
2. Once he proves that she was lying to get the TOP, will she face any consequences?
   
3. Will the fact that she lied to get a TOP to withhold his child from him help him in his case to get sole custody, as that is what he wishes to do now. If she will go to this length because he called her a whore for sleeping with his boss, what else will she do?