Heads up - I wrote a longer than anticipated into to this topic...if you want to skip the background and get to the meet, you can skip to the list toward the bottom!
Background:
My childhood was a pretty typical middle-class, suburban existence.
I went to public schools growing up. I went to an average state university. My dad passed while I was in college and my mom was a public school teacher so I was more or less on my own to figure life out after my dad passe.
I share that because cruising often and being able to afford to stay in suites is relatively new for us.
I'm an entrepreneur and when COVID started we were on the verge of bankruptcy, not just my business, but my personal finances as well.
I had quit my last corporate job in the tech industry 4 years earlier and hadn't taken a paycheck since. We were surviving on my wife's teacher's salary and the savings and retirement I'd built after a decade in the soulless troughs of corporate BS.
After 4 years of not paying myself while trying to raise two kids, a mortgage, and living the American dream we were at the end of our ropes financially.
I'd drained my retirement (I never touched my wife's incase something ever happened to me), drained our savings, and racked up $250k in credit card debt.
Just as COVID was beginning, I came home from the office one day, handed my wife a credit card, and looked her in the eyes holding back tears and told her, "there's $400 in this account before it's maxed out - buy all the groceries you can because I don't know when I'll have anymore money for us."
Faced with $250k in CC debt, if I couldn't turn things around we were going to going to have to claim bankruptcy so with nothing to lose, I cashed out our home equity as one final cash infusion into the business before closing shop and starting over financially.
With the money from that loan, I resolved to do three things:

1. I hired a business coach to figure out why despite growing revenue, we couldn't make consistent profits.
2. We're in a rural community so we expanded into a much larger city 90 minutes from us...my hope here was that I didn't know how long the shutdown was going to last (it definitely hit us hard early in the pandemic), but by marketing to a larger area we'd hopefully be able to make enough money to survive.
3. I was going to finally begin paying myself after 4 years of not taking a paycheck and reinvesting everything into the business.

I've been extremely fortunate that this was a turning point in my business and in the 4 years since then. We've grown by nearly 1,000% and we're now making a very healthy profit and I've built the business to where it runs without me (I work 8-12 hours/week on the business on high-level activities, primarily guiding my leadership team and handling the financials + some tech innovations periodically as I identify them). I've repaid all of our debt and I'm working on rebuilding our retirement while investing a percentage of the profits into building a new business (one that will be less employee intensive).
This is all relevant because this has put me in a place where we can afford to cruise often (6-8 weeks/year) + I have the luxury (privilege honestly) of not having to worry about PTO.
Side Note: For those of you who hate capitalists like me - my lowest paid employee last year made $50k (+ full benefits) in an area where the median income is only $33k...half of my team made $100k+. We're quite possibly the highest paying company in our region (definitely in our industry) and as a result have extremely low turnover and I'm able to hire the best of the best so we have an excellent culture.
So back to the main reason for this post - having the opportunity to cruise often, about 75% of the time in suites, I've noticed the folks we meet and interact with in the suites tend to fall in one of four categories:

1. The Status Cruiser: These are the folks we all see on social media and unfortunately on cruise ships whose entire identity is wrapped up in their loyalty status and their suite class. They are absolutely the main character and its of absolute importance to them that everybody know this. You can typically spot them from across the room before you even talk to them because they're dressed to the 9s and carry themselves in a way completely stereotypical of what you'd expect from somebody who truly believes their farts smell like roses.
2. The Retirees: There's a good amount of overlap between this persona and the Status Cruisers mentioned above, but they're not all like this. The ones who don't overlap with the previous group tend to be extremely friendly and I've had many great conversations with them learning about their life experiences and imparting with wisdom with me on my own journey. They tend to stick to the recommended dress codes and are sometimes put off by people who don't share the same motivations for structure and etiquette.
3. The Bucket List Cruisers: These folks often save money for years, pinching pennies so they can afford what may very well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them sailing in a suite. They often want to squeeze as much value out of the suites as they can since they may never be in one again (I don't fault them for that...make the most of it!). They're often dressed to the 9s as well but sometimes appear less comfortable in the various social situations you find in the suite areas (i.e. grabbing a drink in a lounge, having a nice dinner in the suite restaurant, etc).
4. The YOLO Cruisers: I don't encounter these cruisers on every sailing, they're definitely more common during holiday sailings (i.e. Spring Break, Christmas, etc). These folks are living their best lives. The fellas are often wearing flip flops and neon tank tops and their wives/girlfriends in cut off jean shorts and a see-through cover-ups over their bikini tops. Fortunately they typically aren't over the top obnoxious, but they couldn't care less about any recommended dress codes or societal queues. They're there to have the time of their lives, everybody else be damned.
5. The DINKs: These couples are often from the LGBTQ+ community (not hating, just the reality), but not exclusively. They have good paying jobs and often are able to work remotely from the ship so they don't even need to use PTO. They typically keep to themselves and associate mostly with other DINKs. You can usually find them enjoying a drink in the suite lounges later in the evenings after a fun night out partying. One evening you may see them dressed to the 9s and the next they may be in beach attire - they march to the beat of their own drum but also don't really interrupt anybody's vacation (aside from maybe the folks in the first two categories who care more than they probably should about dress codes).
6. The Family Cruisers: There aren't many sailing in suites with kids, but the ones who do tend to have well-paying corporate jobs that they're not able to fully disconnect from (even on a cruise ship). They have good to great paying jobs but have limited vacation time so they prefer to pay a premium to make the most of their time off when they're able to get away. Often you'll see these parents responding to emails in-between parenting. You can sometimes catch them in the lounge grabbing a drinks in the evenings after their kids have gone to bed for the evening. We fall into this category with two kids under the age of 10.

I don't know if this is interesting to you guys but I was randomly thinking about it earlier and thought some of you may find it of interest.
What do you think? Did I leave any categories out? Do you disagree?
Random food for thought! Whatever category you fall into, and whatever type of cabin you happen to cruise in, happy sails everybody!

For context, I’ve been having hallucinations after waking up more and more often, and there’s been nothing scary so far since it’s usually obvious when i know something is not real - eg: the first time there was a human sized spider floating and spinning infeont of me super fast, which I knew wasn’t real of course. Other times have been rotating patterns on the ceiling after waking up that last for a few seconds before phasing out.
However today’s hallucinations (2 times) were quite cool. The environment I was in was in a pitch black cruise ship hotel room alone. And here is my log:
Had some insane hallucinations / sleep paralysis today.
For the first one when I woke up from my nested dream I couldn’t move and was so confused what was going on cause it felt like I could see the environment I was in (cruise hotel room in complete darkness alone) with my eyes closed. Then all of a sudden there was a sudden calmness n coldness and I felt like I was melting into my bed. From that point onwards for a while, it was actually insane cause I could hallucinate anything I wanted. I looked at my bed and there was a pigeon on it, and I’m like what the fuck. N I was like nah this ain’t real so I decided to try to move n touch it to see if it was real. And yo I grabbed that thing 💀💀 like I could feel my fingers indenting into its feathers.
So it was quite hard to decipher if this was real but I knew it wasn’t cause a pigeon in the room?? Then an intrusive thought was like if I’m hallucinating this then lemme try hallucinating something else. I chose a chicken and when I looked back, there was an entire chicken there 💀 I also did hallucinate a bunch of other things before I could finally properly move and then everything was gone.
I then went to the toilet to shit myself literally (I had stomach upset) n headed back to bed. I fell asleep relatively fast and had normal dreams and “woke up” to my normal bedroom late at night at home, which felt insanely real. I had my monitor in front of me in bed and I opened chrome, which accidentally played some Disney plus ad, and I heard my mom from the other room yelling at me for playing things out loud late, and I could hear her walking towards my room so I tried to put my monitor to sleep, and just waited for her to walk in, where I would pretend to be asleep, as one does. She opened the door, and it was at this point where I actually opened my eyes in real life unable to physically move and my mom was actually there 💀 and I didn’t even know whether I was hallucinating her because she looked VERY real.
Then she started to walk towards me and I’m like what the fuck. This entire time im not even scared because i was geneuinely trying to figure out whether she was actually real or whether I was hallucinating her. She then stopped infeont of the bed, and then she turned into a man with a fanny pack leaning against something looking at me. I was still confused as hell and tried to move a bit to get a better look at him (keep in mind this was in almost complete darkness) and I was just making eye contact with him for a few seconds before he phased out and the hallucinations stopped.
Overall I’d say this was a cool experience, nothing scary as the things I was hallucinating wasn’t too bad. But it was quite interesting that I was able to feel the pigeon, any thoughts on that?

Hello, My partner has severe flight anxiety. Since we are both working online, I thought we can cruise to certain destinations instead of flying, since we can work normally on a ship the length of the trip has no actual meaning. We are both Europeans and are looking at Mediterranean, Western Europe, and Transatlantic cruises.
I understand that it is not common to join a cruise in the middle, or leave the cruise in the middle, but it is possible? That's the only way it would make sense for us to do it, since the port in our town is a very popular port of call for many cruises, yet no cruises start or end there.
Assuming it is possible, I am trying to find a website that will allow me to filter based on ports of call and I can't seem to find any. I only find filtering based on start/end countries.
For example, lets assume we live in Spain and want to cruise to Italy, and there are no cruises that starts in Spain and end in Italy. But there are cruises that leave from Portugal and end in Greece, but visit both Spain and Italy, and we would like to board them in the middle and leave in the middle. I have no way to find those with all the main sites I found online. Does anyone know of a search engine that will allow me to find such cruises? Thanks!

I am playing gears of war 3 for the first time. No spoilers please. And the opening of them living on a ship made think how would that work during a ZA. Lol

For me - Amy arm folding, Sean’s flounce, Steve talking in a daft voice, Ken ordering a half, Police turning up at exactly at the right time in exactly the right place, Ambulance arriving in seconds - usually with the siren being audible before the victim has finished getting injured, Nick squinting, Ryan mentioning DJ’ing, 35 people living in Eileen’s, Yasmeen saying ‘that man’, LONDON, Police arresting the wrong person, Billy’s praying hands, Dev calling someone ‘honey’, Dev doing his Dev speak, Chesney’s bottom lip over top lip, Toyah mentioning counselling, Glenda mentioning cruise ships, Rita saying ‘listen lady’, Gemma eating with her mouth open, Daniel and Max putting it all behind them, The feeling that Gary fighting the urge to end his sentences with ‘you slag’ and constantly putting his coat on, David being genuinely hilarious, Disappearing children, Mary’s weird zip up boots, Red onion and empty pint, Laptop closing or stuffed under a cushion when someone walks in, Inability to see the painfully obvious, Forgotten family ties, Forgotten pets, Debbie’s handbag carrying. Many, many more to come…

I (19M) met my best friend (19F) about 4 years ago during the end of my Freshman Year in High School. In that time, she was dating someone and I was dating someone and eventually, both of our relationships went to crap because of very immature reasons that were common with kids our age. I was afraid to be alone after my break up so I ended up getting closer to her and it got to the point where we began to talk every single day, and that streak hasn’t ended since. I had a feeling about her even during that time but went on to enter a situation-ship that turned into an actual relationship for about a month until that too ended unceremoniously. She was there for all of it and even gave me the confidence to end the relationship with my ex after my ex said that I “wasn’t a priority,” something I’ll never forget. That line hurt like hell after putting so much energy into caring for her.
My second ex, the situation-ship one, would joke around with my feelings afterward and try to talk to me months after our breakup. For context, I told her never to speak to me again after she claimed she loved me then went on to date another guy as reported by my best friend. So this behavior was very detrimental to my mental health and made things a lot worse for me. My best friend however, protected and defended me from her actions. My ex let it slip that she was afraid for my bff to find out we were talking because she had scolded her before.
Eventually, that ended and up until this point, my bff was someone who was scarily similar to me and sorta brought me out of my shell. I changed a lot of my “loner” ways for her and would walk to class with her, not even speaking sometimes, just enjoying her presence. We’d have these little moments between each other and got mistaken for a couple a few times too. She had an affinity towards me but it was nothing romantic.
Fast forward to last year and I’m starting to take notice of some strange feelings for her and through subtle prodding, it was still clear she wasn’t into me in that way. There’d be little clues of something brewing within her heart but not enough to act.
Now this is where it gets interesting. 2024 has probably been our best year yet and the crazy part is that we haven’t seen each other in-person since our mutual friend’s graduation party which was last year. We have plans to travel across the world, live in some apartment together, own a dog together, dress up for halloween as Agnes and Kristofferson from Fantastic Mr. Fox, and a bunch more like me cooking for her and us doing each other’s hair. We text and talk to each other like we’ve been married for 20 years. She’ll tell me when something’s wrong and never takes out her frustration on me, called me when she was having cramps and stuff, will occasionally take some photos of herself for me.
The photos of her is where I find myself realizing how deep I’ve fallen because this woman is just gorgeous. I legitimately can’t see myself with anybody else but her. Her smile, her hair, her cute glasses, and her entire body is simply STUNNING. Don’t even get me started on personality because that’s what has me so starstruck. I was looking at her photos tonight and man, I wonder how I lived without her for 15 years…
I never run out of things to talk about with her and unlike the past few years, all of her plans seem to include me in them. Driving together, napping together, just being around each other always. I mentioned her being my partner a few times and she gladly accepted that title. I EVEN KNOW WHAT WEDDING RING SHE WANTS. It’s not the look that matters but the engraving, which is the timestamp for Harry’s love confession to Sally in “When Harry Met Sally.”
My relationship/friendship with her is completely unlike the ones where I was actively dating them, I am so completely invested in her life and what’s she doing and what she likes. It’s borderline obsession with loving every aspect of her and the world she sees. My friends are always talking about flirting with girls and all that but as long as my best friend exists, I feel as though I’m taken.
And I know some people would question why I haven’t confessed and that’s because I’m waiting until I can see her face-to-face and know for sure if she loves me back in that way. We say I love you quite a bit but with everything going on between us, I have a feeling that I’ll get my true answer by getting to look into her eyes again. Part of me thinks I’m dreaming all this up and that she truly does see us as just friends but there’s too many coincidences for me to ignore it. We’re too close, I believe. Too close for either of us to enter a relationship with someone else, at least.
Let me know what you guys think.

I (19M) met my best friend (19F) about 4 years ago during the end of my Freshman Year in High School. In that time, she was dating someone and I was dating someone and eventually, both of our relationships went to crap because of very immature reasons that were common with kids our age. I was afraid to be alone after my break up so I ended up getting closer to her and it got to the point where we began to talk every single day, and that streak hasn’t ended since. I had a feeling about her even during that time but went on to enter a situation-ship that turned into an actual relationship for about a month until that too ended unceremoniously. She was there for all of it and even gave me the confidence to end the relationship with my ex after my ex said that I “wasn’t a priority,” something I’ll never forget. That line hurt like hell after putting so much energy into caring for her.
My second ex, the situation-ship one, would joke around with my feelings afterward and try to talk to me months after our breakup. For context, I told her never to speak to me again after she claimed she loved me then went on to date another guy as reported by my best friend. So this behavior was very detrimental to my mental health and made things a lot worse for me. My best friend however, protected and defended me from her actions. My ex let it slip that she was afraid for my bff to find out we were talking because she had scolded her before.
Eventually, that ended and up until this point, my bff was someone who was scarily similar to me and sorta brought me out of my shell. I changed a lot of my “loner” ways for her and would walk to class with her, not even speaking sometimes, just enjoying her presence. We’d have these little moments between each other and got mistaken for a couple a few times too. She had an affinity towards me but it was nothing romantic.
Fast forward to last year and I’m starting to take notice of some strange feelings for her and through subtle prodding, it was still clear she wasn’t into me in that way. There’d be little clues of something brewing within her heart but not enough to act.
Now this is where it gets interesting. 2024 has probably been our best year yet and the crazy part is that we haven’t seen each other in-person since our mutual friend’s graduation party which was last year. We have plans to travel across the world, live in some apartment together, own a dog together, dress up for halloween as Agnes and Kristofferson from Fantastic Mr. Fox, and a bunch more like me cooking for her and us doing each other’s hair. We text and talk to each other like we’ve been married for 20 years. She’ll tell me when something’s wrong and never takes out her frustration on me, called me when she was having cramps and stuff, will occasionally take some photos of herself for me.
The photos of her is where I find myself realizing how deep I’ve fallen because this woman is just gorgeous. I legitimately can’t see myself with anybody else but her. Her smile, her hair, her cute glasses, and her entire body is simply STUNNING. Don’t even get me started on personality because that’s what has me so starstruck. I was looking at her photos tonight and man, I wonder how I lived without her for 15 years…
I never run out of things to talk about with her and unlike the past few years, all of her plans seem to include me in them. Driving together, napping together, just being around each other always. I mentioned her being my partner a few times and she gladly accepted that title. I EVEN KNOW WHAT WEDDING RING SHE WANTS. It’s not the look that matters but the engraving, which is the timestamp for Harry’s love confession to Sally in “When Harry Met Sally.”
My relationship/friendship with her is completely unlike the ones where I was actively dating them, I am so completely invested in her life and what’s she doing and what she likes. It’s borderline obsession with loving every aspect of her and the world she sees. My friends are always talking about flirting with girls and all that but as long as my best friend exists, I feel as though I’m taken.
And I know some people would question why I haven’t confessed and that’s because I’m waiting until I can see her face-to-face and know for sure if she loves me back in that way. We say I love you quite a bit but with everything going on between us, I have a feeling that I’ll get my true answer by getting to look into her eyes again. Part of me thinks I’m dreaming all this up and that she truly does see us as just friends but there’s too many coincidences for me to ignore it. We’re too close, I believe. Too close for either of us to enter a relationship with someone else, at least.
Let me know what you guys think.
TL;DR this girl is literal perfection and loves me to bits but I can’t read her mind on if the feelings are romantic. Am I crazy on thinking so from how close she is to me?

I (19M) met my best friend (19F) about 4 years ago during the end of my Freshman Year in High School. In that time, she was dating someone and I was dating someone and eventually, both of our relationships went to crap because of very immature reasons that were common with kids our age. I was afraid to be alone after my break up so I ended up getting closer to her and it got to the point where we began to talk every single day, and that streak hasn’t ended since. I had a feeling about her even during that time but went on to enter a situation-ship that turned into an actual relationship for about a month until that too ended unceremoniously. She was there for all of it and even gave me the confidence to end the relationship with my ex after my ex said that I “wasn’t a priority,” something I’ll never forget. That line hurt like hell after putting so much energy into caring for her.
My second ex, the situation-ship one, would joke around with my feelings afterward and try to talk to me months after our breakup. For context, I told her never to speak to me again after she claimed she loved me then went on to date another guy as reported by my best friend. So this behavior was very detrimental to my mental health and made things a lot worse for me. My best friend however, protected and defended me from her actions. My ex let it slip that she was afraid for my bff to find out we were talking because she had scolded her before.
Eventually, that ended and up until this point, my bff was someone who was scarily similar to me and sorta brought me out of my shell. I changed a lot of my “loner” ways for her and would walk to class with her, not even speaking sometimes, just enjoying her presence. We’d have these little moments between each other and got mistaken for a couple a few times too. She had an affinity towards me but it was nothing romantic.
Fast forward to last year and I’m starting to take notice of some strange feelings for her and through subtle prodding, it was still clear she wasn’t into me in that way. There’d be little clues of something brewing within her heart but not enough to act.
Now this is where it gets interesting. 2024 has probably been our best year yet and the crazy part is that we haven’t seen each other in-person since our mutual friend’s graduation party which was last year. We have plans to travel across the world, live in some apartment together, own a dog together, dress up for halloween as Agnes and Kristofferson from Fantastic Mr. Fox, and a bunch more like me cooking for her and us doing each other’s hair. We text and talk to each other like we’ve been married for 20 years. She’ll tell me when something’s wrong and never takes out her frustration on me, called me when she was having cramps and stuff, will occasionally take some photos of herself for me.
The photos of her is where I find myself realizing how deep I’ve fallen because this woman is just gorgeous. I legitimately can’t see myself with anybody else but her. Her smile, her hair, her cute glasses, and her entire body is simply STUNNING. Don’t even get me started on personality because that’s what has me so starstruck. I was looking at her photos tonight and man, I wonder how I lived without her for 15 years…
I never run out of things to talk about with her and unlike the past few years, all of her plans seem to include me in them. Driving together, napping together, just being around each other always. I mentioned her being my partner a few times and she gladly accepted that title. I EVEN KNOW WHAT WEDDING RING SHE WANTS. It’s not the look that matters but the engraving, which is the timestamp for Harry’s love confession to Sally in “When Harry Met Sally.”
My relationship/friendship with her is completely unlike the ones where I was actively dating them, I am so completely invested in her life and what’s she doing and what she likes. It’s borderline obsession with loving every aspect of her and the world she sees. My friends are always talking about flirting with girls and all that but as long as my best friend exists, I feel as though I’m taken.
And I know some people would question why I haven’t confessed and that’s because I’m waiting until I can see her face-to-face and know for sure if she loves me back in that way. We say I love you quite a bit but with everything going on between us, I have a feeling that I’ll get my true answer by getting to look into her eyes again. Part of me thinks I’m dreaming all this up and that she truly does see us as just friends but there’s too many coincidences for me to ignore it. We’re too close, I believe. Too close for either of us to enter a relationship with someone else, at least.
Let me know what you guys think.
TL;DR this girl is literal perfection and loves me to bits but I can’t read her mind on if the feelings are romantic. Am I crazy on thinking so from how close she is to me?

i don't know if this ever gets brought up but even in the world of sci fi star trek shuttle crafts are pretty amazing. probably even more impressive to me than the actual starships.
im going to discount the enterprise era shuttle pods since they dont' have warp drive but they are pretty cool that even with thrusters they can go from orbit to planet side and back to orbit on its own power.
we saw in star trek discovery 2257/2258 shuttles already had warp drive
same with TOS shuttles like the galileo in 2267 also have warp drive.
then in the 24th century 2360s shuttles in addition to having faster warp drive (warp 2 for 36 hours with cruising speed of 3.50) can survive reentry of a planets atmosphere, from surface level take off, and achieve escape velocity to get back into space all on its own power. insanely maneuverable like a fighter jet.
so back to the size of these shuttles. the standard type 6 shuttle is only 6m long, 4.4m wide and 2.7m high so imagine having the warp core/engine system, the impulse engine system, comms, the computer core, thrusters all the power systems in addition to life support systems, shields, weapons, inertial dampeners all crammed into a space that small.
you guys know the size of the rockets we have now for our space ships that we need jsut to achieve liftoff and escape velocity to escape earths graivty into space. our rockets are huge. like the space x rockets are 120 meters long, the saturn 5 was a little over 100 meters long.
don't get me started on the runabout ships that are basically mini starships. with cruising speed of warp 4 with phasers/torpedoes.

Length: 23.1 meters^\1])

Width: 13.7 meters^\1])

Height: 5.4 meters^\)Length:

What's up all! 4th Wall here! I finally have power returned to my home, and can play a little catch up! This one's a heavy hitter, No NSFW needed (I hope) but if you've got kids, be warned.
First, Previous, Next
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A bright flash of blues and whites spat a greyish black object into normal space a mere one hundred Clicks from physical asteroid cloud that provided a natural barrier into the Lurix system. USN Olyvia’s drives instantly flared to life, and she made for the outer edges of the asteroid field with a purposeful stride. The senior Crew was at hand, having alternated shifts so they were well rested for this endeavor. Captain Correllus Grarzia shifted in his chair slightly, watching with interest as his star helmsman switched from his standard control configuration to a more “analog” twin joystick and pedals. ‘The kid really should be piloting a fighter’ he mused just as the young lad turned to look at him. “Ready, skipper”

“Take us in. All ahead slow.” Cory ordered calmly, before keying up the ship wide broadcasting channel. “This is the captain. We’ve just entered the Lurix system. Rig for silent running. I repeat, rig for silent running.” All across the ship, nonessential systems were shut down; their lack of electronic signature aiding the stealth coating on the bulky former troop transport. In engineering. Patrick, Cammy, and the rest of their section powered down a large portion of the larger systems onboard.

Life support was set to emergency backup, with old school oxygen candles lit in special housings that allowed their life-giving emissions to be circulated throughout the ship. Each major section of the vessel had their own supplies of these low-tech solutions, and Olyvia carried enough of these candles to survive for several days without functioning life support if needed.

Only a few were lit this time, using them as an augmentation to allow for minimal use of their perfectly functioning life support systems; and Cammy returned from the compartment just in time to aid in shutting down two thirds of Olyvia’s fusion reactors. This was not usually part of the silent running protocol, but Cory had added it for this mission. While they knew where their target would be, they still knew very little about what defenses awaited them inside the system.

Patrick keyed up the mic, “Engineering reporting in, silent running.”

*acknowledged* came a voice back. And Patrick leaned back in his chair just as Cammy arrived. “Well, that’s that.” He sighed.

Cammy stepped behind his chair, rubbing his shoulders for a second, “candles are lit. Two per section. At this rate we won’t run out for a year.”

Patrick chuckled, standing before looking over at his team, “sandwiches are in the mess hall. Half go now, half after. We’ll wait and go with second shift.” The team nodded and soon. The room was half as full. “Hurry up, and wait” Patrick mused, and turned to the rest. “Hold’em anyone?”

Over the next several days, shifts were kept short with a high rotation frequency. Olyvia picked her way through the natural minefield created by a destroyed world, slipping between the dead planetary shards with deadly caution. She ran quiet, with all but minimal deflectors shut down, and a single detuned laser online on each of her flanks as a last resort against impacts. Cory, Jesse, Patrick, and Cammy met regularly to keep tabs on the ship’s progress. The admiral’s transmission had reached them in time, and the four of them, plus Jacky when she could pry herself from the infirmary, worked to formulate a plan to get into the freighter without killing everyone. They had Hera and Jacobs reports, but those reports also admitted to a certain degree of incredible luck on their part. Things could have gone very differently, and the murder of the freighter during the admiral’s capture operation hinted at a change in tactics from their foe.

Mackenzie’s Privateers had liberated several freighters since they began operations, keeping to their cover as “pirates” by leaving nothing big enough to betray their secrets behind. A few of the other captains had left pieces of inoperative Unity tech, strategically damaged and jettisoned after the fight, as red herrings to convince both the Vorath, and the Thermians that these “pirates” had somehow gotten ahold of Unity warships.


Cory stepped into the cargo bay to meet Patric and Camorra. They were tinkering, carefully he hoped, with one of Olyvia’s harpoon missiles. It was a project triggered by Cammy’s brilliant, if outlandish, idea. “We know these freighters all ran the same codes, and the same infrastructure in their computer cores. Why can’t we hack it. Human computing should be perfectly capable of it.” Cory remembered her words as he stepped up to the two, “at ease” he waved them away as they threatened to salute him, “how’s out little project coming.”


“See for yourself” Patrick smiled handing him a data pad.

Cory took the offered device, quickly scanning through the data, “All I see is Olyvia’s system logs. Did you give me the wrong one?”

Patric smiled evilly, “that is coming from the missile, we found a common power regulator chip that dam near all Delmar freighters use in their integrated core management. Our mole here mimicked that regulators protocols to get into one we installed in a conduit over there” he pointed to an open panel. “It’s designed to cycle through several common chip sets and protocols to get access.”

“You hacked Olyvia?” Cory asked, eyebrow raised in a combination of amusement and irritation.

“Well, “Cammy said calmly, “we had to test it, and Oly’s the only ship close enough…”

“I see…” Cory mused, “it will have to do, we will be reaching the edge of the field in three days, how many of these can you have ready?”

Patrick scratched the red stubble punctuating his jaw line. “Hmm two, maybe three, including that one.” He winced at his captain’s expression, “took us a minute to get the virus right, sorry.”

Cory sounded to himself like a broken record, “I guess that will have to do as well. I’ll leave it to you.” He turned to return to his office but was interrupted half way there by an urgent request for his presence on the bridge.

Jesse rose to greet him as Cory stepped into Olyvia’s command center, and he nodded towards the ready room off to the side. The two of them quickly stepped inside and Jesse closed the door. “Jesse, what’s this about” Cory asked, settling into his desk chair.

Jesse, his first officer, and battle born brother looked at him seriously, “The first of our stealth probes have made it into the system proper….. It’s not good” He tapped at his data pad before handing it to his captain, “The enemy is doing something big down there, and we don’t know what. What we do know, Is that there are three heavy cruisers in orbit, and three more destroyers in floating patrols around the system.”

Cory scrolled through the pad as his first officer made his report, pausing at the same information on the planet’s surface, “These are military installations. This makes no since. We haven’t had a use for Lurix in millennia. It’s always just been a haven for aquatic and semi aquatic species. Why didn’t our intel warn us of this.”

Jesse nodded grimly, “I don’t know for sure, but I have my suspicions.” He reached over, tapping at the tab to open a particular file Cory had yet to find. “We found these in orbit as well.” He pointed to a pair of Delmar constructed freighters, parked in orbit over the marsh world. “I authorized a single transmission to a single drone, uploading Patrick and Camorra’s hacking program into it, and we sent it to one of those freighters... this is what we found.”

Cory opened the indicated file, and felt bile rise in the back of his throat as he watched. “Ready a tight beam, send it back the way we came, Towards Simo.” Jesse looked at his captain in understanding. The risks of transmitting this close to the enemy was a grave risk. Measured against the information they just witnessed; however, it was an absolute necessity. Jesse took the offered tablet, “The Admirals need to see this…. Both of them.”

————————————————————


Clint Stevens groaned as his communicator beeped from his desk. It was a very early morning on a weekend, and Frie had let Natalie stay at her grandparents for the weekend. He quietly slipped from the entanglements of a profoundly comfortable Delmar goddess he had somehow been gifted with as his wife, and silently cursed the inevitable destruction of his plans. The Com was linked to his computer console, and Clint tapped the file as he sat down.

The file opened, beginning with a grim looking Corellus Grarzia who made an intro statement that froze Clint in his thoughts. Before he could begin to prepare himself, images flooded in that turned grogginess into razors edge consciousness ringing with a white hot fury. Frie was ripped from her slumber instantly, reaching for her biometric pistol safe as a response to the unbridled rage she experienced from her husband. It took her a moment to realize that they were not being attacked, and she rushed from their bed, neglecting even basic decency to be by his side.

The two of them watched the Horrors unfold. Children… small children of multiple different races, stacked in a freighter’s hold like cattle, being thrown food like one would an animal. Massive screens played, promising safety and full bellies should they only but kiss the hand of a severe looking Vorath female. All who had not, were treated to daily ice cold sprays mixed with random beatings. He watched as desperate older siblings attempted to shelter their kin from the abuse, often times paying the ultimate price for their valor.

Clint and Frie were spared a further assault on their senses by a beeping light, indicating an urgent call from Clint’s adopted brother. Frie slipped out of view, reaching for a night gown as a furious Mac, accompanied by an equal parts shocked and livid Lyrian, appeared on screen.


“You’ve seen it” Clint stated. There were no barriers between them, no formalities. Only pure truth.

“I have,” Mac rumbled. “Why is it always kids..”

Clint shook his head, “I can have a battle group there in two weeks. It’s not soon enough, but.”

Mac nodded sharply, “I’m redirecting everyone not on critical missions. Simo and Kid are already there with Olyvia. Wisconsin is enroute. We will await your arrival….. Clint…” Clint’s eyes met Mac’s in a joined promise that reached across time and space.

“No, there won’t.” Clint answered, responding to Mac’s unspoken statement.

___________________________________________________________

A week later, The Chancellor Thomas Durrant of the Sol Federation perused the latest transmissions from Unity space. He was due for reelection this coming fall, and it was a close race. His opponent was labelling him a Warmonger, as he was an outspoken proponent of a more active role in the struggle against the Vorath, and it was working. The points were closing in the polls, and The Chancellor had not come out on top with the latest debate results. Humanity simply was not interested in further conflict. For the first time in human history, the vast majority of the Human race was content with peace.

The Chancellor took a sip of his mug as he opened a file from Admiral Stevens marked priority, but not top secret and promptly spit the contents in his mouth back into the mug. It was a complete file on some kind of intelligence operation, and Durrant almost wondered if it had been sent to him in error. The gruesome cover video dispelled that notion as the leader of Humanity itself watched horrors thought long dead play out in front of him. Several minutes later, he closed the file, and opened a message prompt.


“Viktor, are you up.” He typed.

*Yea, Tom. I’m up, the campaign ain’t gonna run itself into the ground.*

Durrant snorted at the dark humor, “Viktor, I was sent something. It changes… everything” he typed, attaching the cover video, and the longer form surveillance recording he had found inside the file from Clint. Several minutes passed in tense silence before…

*Jesus Christ, Tom.*

Tom Durrant took a long slow breath, “Do you still have your man at The Post.” He paused before sending, knowing what he was asking.

*Yea… yea I do, Tom. Are you sure you want to do this. This has ‘it will blow up in my face’ written all over it.*

“I know, but this bigger than me. Do it, and announce a press conference to follow if The Post runs with it.” Durrant typed and sent the last message, closing down his console. He stood slowly, feeling his age for the first time in recent memory, and walked heavily to bed.

The Post ran with the story. In the next 48 hours, the “leaked” scenes of tortured children, some barely more than infants ripped its way into Humanities Psyche. The revelations of what exactly was going on behind Vorath lines assailed Humanity, spurring many to call for blood, and Others to cry hoax. Around and around the political commentators debated, and redebated the shocking footage.

Chancellor Thomas Durrant followed through on his word, and was now stepping up to the platform and the Microphone as promised. He stood there for a full minute, meeting the eyes of as many of the hundreds of reporters before him as he could. The weight of his expression prompted a flurry of flashes as camera drones captured the image. Durrant allowed all of this to happen, waiting until the din of activity settled into a heavy silence. “People of Humanity… By now, you have undoubtedly seen the shocking pictures from the far side of the galaxy. Many of you believe it to be a hoax, a desperate ploy for political points. Allow me to be clear. This is no hoax, I received these disturbing images directly from Admiral Clint Stevens, who is marshalling the forces at his disposal as we speak. He aims to do something about these orbital concentration camps, and I support his actions with the full backing of my authority as Chancellor of the United Sol Federation.”

Durrant paused, letting the information sink in before continuing, “to answer the question as to whether this is a political ploy for points. Let me be perfectly clear, I alone released the footage from inside those torture ships, and I do not care if you believe it to be a political ploy. If Humanity can see the atrocities committed to the young innocents in those images and refuse to stand up for them; I no longer would wish to lead that Humanity. Yes, we are few compared to what we once were, but we have a strength that cannot be fathomed by those who chose to side with pure evil. Make no mistake, any being that is capable of torturing and murdering children deserves the title.” The Chancellor of United Sol skewered the silent crowd with a withering gaze, “All of you here know that I have been an ardent supporter of taking a more active role against this pure evil, and my opponent has made a great many statements regarding my supposed “warmongering”. I believe that to debate him further on this matter is as wasteful as it would be irrelevant. As such, I am suspending my campaign immediately. Pending permission from donors and the campaign review board, I will be donating the totality of my campaign war-chest to the purchase of relief supplies and construction of rehabilitation facilities for these children.” Durrant paused as a wave of gasps swept through the room as a volley of flashes assaulted his eyes. “Holding the position of leader of the Human race seems so insignificant in comparison,” he said softly, almost to himself before scanning the crowd. “The election is 4 months away. If you wish to reelect me, so be it; but know this.” Thomas Durrant rose to his full height, “If you elect me this fall, know that I will use the full weight of this office to unleash the full might of Humanity upon this evil, or I will resign from my post and travel to Unity space myself.”

With that. Chancellor Thomas Durrant spun on his heals and marched off the stage.
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My wife and I will be going on our first cruise in 267 days. We don't really need to use our phones so we won't be buying the wifi package but we'd like ro communicate when on different parts of the ship. Has anyone used 2 way radios? Is it possible? Can you recommend a brand? Any advice/info helps. Thank you