putting myself out there kasi gusto ko na ring magpaka-lover era gaya ng iba. pagod na ako kaka-sana all, pagod na akong kuwestiyunin si Lord kung anak niya rin ba ako, pagod na ako sa hanggang talking stages na lang ang inaabot 😭. willing na akong mag-commit kung may magri-risk din sa akin 🥲
looking for someone who's willing to know me more and wants to pursue a relationship.
about me - 4th yr IT student, 22 yo - wears eyeglasses - 5'6 cm - galing probinsya - loves chatting, not into calls - hindi petite - talkative, like medyo detailed mag-chat - loves music, movies, cats, dogs, poetry, art, books - hindi sobrang payat, hindi rin sobrang chubby - katoliko - kanal humour - hindi petite - capital mag-HAHA - 🌸
about you - 24 to 27 yo - gusto akong kilalalanin - taller than me (5'8 above) - talkative rin at medyo detailed mag-kwento (pls, para naman may flow yung conversation natin 😭) - kanal humour rin sana - medyo formal rin mag-type at may space sa pagitan ng emoji at chat (idk, preference lang talaga, sorry) - sakto lang ang pangangatawan - hindi bbm-apologist or apolitical - nasa IT industry (student or working, tho optional) - same interests
let's get to know each and then we'll see. kitakits!! you can send a short intro about yourself upon messaging HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Hey SaaS enthusiasts! Let me share an idea I've been knocking about for a couple of days to find out if there is any bite.
The concept is Socket.io namespaces/rooms as a service. Rather than having to think about deploying your own servers, state management stores, message brokers, load balancing etc. the offering would provide all this out of the box.
In a nutshell, i could see this working as follows...
A potential user would be provided an auth key and install a library. Consumers would connect via wss:// to the hosted servers. Your backend would broadcast messages which would then be dispatched to interested parties. No Express style session management required as the broker would be configured to use direct queues, with bindings per room. This would be a one-stop shop for real-time data transmission. Once the SDK is installed, publishing messages as a global broadcast or directed to subsets of connected clients would be a simple as firing a function.
My question to the community is, have you experienced any pain points productionizing your real-time applications? Could you see any benefit in using a service like this to relieve problems you've had around provisioning resources, application performance, uptime, security...or anything else?
Thanks in advance for any insights you can offer me at this very early stage

Hey there! It’s William on the line, broadcasting live from the thrilling world of office desks and fluorescent lights. Seeking friendship because let’s face it, my cat’s conversations are less than stimulating!
Here’s why I'm your next best chat buddy:
-I come equipped with a cat. She's Instagram-ready and approves all my selfies.
-I’m slicing my way to becoming a plastic and reconstructive surgeon. Trust me, it’s as cool as it sounds!
-My cooking skills? Chef’s kiss! Ready to trade some secret recipes that could probably, sort of, maybe win a cooking show.
-Oh, did I forget to mention? I have a CAT. Yes, that's twice, because she's twice as adorable.
Drop a message if you’re up for some cat photos and culinary adventures! Looking forward to chatting with someone as awake as I am at work!

Memory Transcription Subject: Yerron, Retired Farsul Exterminator, Hero of the Federation.
Date [Standardized Human Time]: October 30, 5012.
The previous two days had been a blur to me. The Humans had left no chance for discretion and almost immediately after their message was broadcasted, we rolled out the same anti-human messages that we used the first time we wiped the filth out. The population was reasonably terrified - especially in such a sensitive time, when we were celebrating the destruction of our eternal foe and demobilizing. The people cried out, and each gaze directed towards me ever since asked me a simple question.
Who will protect us?
That would be me. The Chief had shortly contacted me and requested that my retirement end, for I had the greatest experience with predators of everyone he knew. Certainly the public would calm themselves knowing that a Hero such as I would protect them from the bloodthirsty beasts that again reared their heads. The question of how still lingered in my mind, I breathed inwards in an attempt to steady it. The bumpy ride aided me none, as I was being chauffeured to a Spaceport, where I’d further be taken to a Black Site station, to be briefed on the situation and plan a response.
I peered outside the window, seeing the remnants of last night’s anti-predatory rallies. Various votive offerings and burnt out candles still laid on the sidewalks, Icons of the Protector hung high on walls not meant for it. That too told me a more uplifting tale, that whatever I did - both the people and Divinity would aid me. I wiped the heavy bags beneath my eyes and sat back - my eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to make up for lost sleep.
But a low buzzing interrupted that. My holopad, sat discarded in the seat next to me, glowed and displayed a request from the Chief, who represented the Council. Allegedly, our own Farsul rulership was yet to figure out quite what to do. So I trusted our only equals, and responded to them too.
“Yerron, forgive my intrusion.”
“I understand, Sir.”
The Chief’s voice momentarily stalled, wavering from hesitation. “The Humans have made further contact. They desire to send a representative to us. They say that they’ll arrive unarmed and alone.”
I furrowed my brow. What a strange proposition, though a predator like a human could easily match a room full of us, I imagine. I had done my research - Humans tower over any other species.
The Chief spoke again, “It … sounds like a trap. What do you think? Should we attack them?”
I chewed on that knowledge, burying my muzzle into a paw as I considered this. We had been lured into a trap long ago, and I couldn’t see where this would factor into anything. The fact that they made this offer only served to somehow make them seem reasonable.
“No,” I responded, “The Humans planned for this. Consider this, they’ve caught us at the worst time, when we’re demobilizing. They’ve had all the time to prepare, and the last thing we want is to get emotional and do something irrational, while we aren’t ready for it.”
I paused again, “The truth is that they have the upper hand right now. We need to play their game until we’re sure we can take them. Diplomacy may be a part of their trap, but we just don’t have any other choice right now.”
The Chief’s voice again crackled through, raising another question. “You think we can’t defeat them?”
“We could … possibly. Humans have had centuries at the least to prepare for this, while all our forces have done is mop up leftovers. Humans have plenty of hunting experience and likely have a vast arsenal. First, let’s find out what they’re capable of before we get into a scrap.”
“Do you think they want revenge?”
“I don’t know how predators think, Sir. If it was me who had my homeplanet destroyed and my people killed, then I would want to burn them alive. But Humans are omnivores. For all we know, they could be aware of their own horror and have bettered themselves.”
The last few words surprised even me. I hadn’t intended to say that, but it made sense as I thought about it. We have never met omnivores, have we?
“Yerron, I’d like you to meet their delegate. Be firm with them.”
“Different destination that I expected, then?”
“Of course. Be careful, and always assume that they want to eat you - until proven otherwise.”
“Naturally.”

Jackie West glanced between the bars and boards on his windows, seeing the sky redden. He set about taking inventory of everything in the one-room cabin. Fresh light bulbs: check. Radio: check. Animal traps under the windows: check. Medical supplies: check. Guns: check. He emphasized the last with a satisfying pull on the slide of his shotgun, checking the chambers of his revolver, then sat in the chair facing the door and per his new routine, he waited.
He began to ponder what had happened for it to come to this. He thought back to the first Eclipse, three months before. It had been a regular day in the small town of Red Leaf, AL. “Town” might have been too generous; it was little more than a small collection of houses, shops, and a tiny police station connected by a crumbling road running through it. One would need to go well out of their way to get here.
Jackie had gone into town to purchase more hunting supplies for the oncoming winter and exchanged small talk with the kindly store clerk, Roger Orson. The clerk had asked Jackie if he’d heard the news about the eclipse that was set to occur. Jackie hadn’t, so Roger advised that he stay inside when it began to get dark; according to the papers, it was set to be a rather long eclipse, lasting at least five hours.
The Shades had appeared soon after the Eclipse came. It had cast an odd dark-red glow over the town. Jackie had gotten back to his cabin a mile and a half away from the town proper, only to find Red Leaf beset by a host of living shadows. Before long, screams erupted from the homes, followed by ghastly, inhuman screeches, the sound of vehicles being destroyed, and ghoulish laughter. His poor townsfolk had been claimed by the Eclipse.
Jackie’s focus snapped back to the present when the radio began to buzz with static. Soon enough, a chorus of distorted, fiendish words began. Whether he was a paragon of willpower or a shameless coward, he couldn’t say, but all he knew was that he never opened up for the creatures.
Five hours, he instructed himself as always. You just need to wait five hours and you’re home free until next time. He kept his eyes trained on the door. There were only a couple of other boarded windows in the cabin, so they didn’t concern him as much as the Shades deciding to barge in head-on, which he knew they could if they wanted. All of a sudden, he heard it. The crackling of leaves underfoot, the sound of objects dragging across the ground, heavy breathing from distorted throats. His grip on the shotgun tightened. Once again, the Shades had come for him.
Looking around, Jackie noted, not for the first time, that the sturdiness of his cabin was matched only by its restrictiveness. He could—and had—held out for a long time in this cabin. However, for all of its safety, he felt as if at any moment, it could squeeze him to death like a boa constrictor. The one-room nature of the structure could only offer so much peace of mind, as it gave him fewer places to check but also fewer places to escape if need be.
As if summoned by this thought, he heard the first of them at his door. The creature began its usual performance of wheezing, snarling, and chittering in a distorted voice. The radio quickly did its duty and broadcast the beast’s message.
“Jackie?” called the twisted, two-toned voice of Roger. “Jackie, open up, bud. I think it’s starting to clear up out here.” Even with the windows boarded, Jackie knew it was lying. He could see rays of the reddened sun slashing through the cracks, rays he dared not enter. He just stuck to watching the door as the radio continued to speak for the beasts. They all spoke with the voices of his neighbors, his friends, just as they always did, except they used a horrific parody of their voices. They always coaxed, begged, screamed, and threatened with the same goal: making him leave the house.
Then another voice chimed in, and as soon as he heard it, he knew that tonight was going to be different.
“Mr. West?” asked the timid, tearful voice of Ken Edwards, once an outgoing, happy-go-lucky young boy who never failed to say hello to Jackie when he came into town. “Can you please let me come in, Mr. West? I don’t like it out here. It’s scary, and something’s wrong with Mama and Daddy.”
The radio’s sadistic interpretation made his heart sink. Each time, there had been some kind of tell, a distortion to the voices that gave off the impression of it belonging to a Shade. But Ken’s voice, though filled with static, sounded as normal as ever.
“Mr. West?” the voice called again, sounding more desperate. “Mr. West, please.” He trailed off in a series of sobs, then continued through them, “Everyone out here’s gotten real mean. Mama and Daddy started fighting, and she hurt Daddy with a knife, then he hurt her with an axe. He kept hitting her over and over again. He grabbed me and…” Fresh terror took the boy’s voice as he began screaming, “Please, let me in! I see him! It’s Daddy, but it’s not! Why won’t you open the door?! Please, Mr. West! He’s gonna hurt me! He—”
The voice was cut off by the sound of a blade striking flesh, followed by choking and failed attempts at screaming in agony as the axe hit the boy again and again. Jackie listened to all of this, feeling bitter tears running down his cheeks. By now, he was feeling sorely tempted to go out there and shoot as many of those bastards as he could, but he remained steadfast. It was an illusion. Then the boy’s voice came back over the radio, only now it was a malicious, croaking cackle.
“You knew about it, Jackie! You knew about the Sun, and you didn’t even warn anybody! Just so you know, it took a lot longer for the boy to die than this. You should have seen the look on his face, Jackie. It was exquisite.”
Growling, Jackie began reaching for the radio, keeping his eyes on the barricaded door.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the voice sang tauntingly. Curious, Jackie looked at the radio, only to find that he was not reaching for the device but now his hand was reaching into the steel jaws of one of the bear traps he had set up. He tumbled out of his chair to pull his hand away from the steel teeth as they just barely missed his hand. The shock of what had just happened seemed to paralyze him as he realized his chair was in a different position than he had initially set it. Then he heard the wild, raucous cackles over the radio and outside as the beasts mocked his mistake. Jackie tried to ignore them, but he was still quite shaken up as he stood the chair back up to face the door.
All of a sudden, the radio fell silent. Then he heard something strike the door hard enough to shake it. He jumped back in shock, then took aim with the shotgun. It shook again and again. Jackie slowly backed up before it burst open. There they were: three deformed, mutilated figures with long, crimson strings attached to their bodies that pulsed like veins and seemed to stretch to the sky. The one on the right carried a pickaxe, the one on the left held a claw hammer, and the middle one held a hatchet. They all grinned madly at him, though even now he wasn’t sure if they were grinning because of the curse or because of how disfigured their faces were at this point. Outside, the moon gazed down on Red Leaf, having taken on the shape of a lidless scarlet eye with a colossal, black pupil. It glowered at Jackie, causing horrific images to flash through his mind. He was nearly taken off his guard as the intruders began their assault.
The middle Shade charged at Jackie in an attempt to swing the hatchet, only for Jackie to blow its leg off with a blast from his shotgun. Blood sprayed everywhere, coating the foyer in a grisly shower of vermillion. It showed no pain, just continued to try and stand on the remaining leg, whereupon Jackie pulled back the slide, ejecting the shell, and shot it in the head. The veins it was covered in seemed to absorb its corpse with a horrid slurping sound.
The other two attempted to do the same as their fallen compatriot, Jackie just barely dodging the pickaxe swinging for him as it lodged itself in the wall. He capitalized on this by pumping the shotgun again and firing at the Shade’s head. Then the monster with the hammer rushed at him, receiving the same treatment. Their ocular puppeteer in the sky slurped them back up.
That was when Jackie heard the chainsaw.
He whirled about in horror as the sound of the tool at one of the rear windows, then he saw the tool cut through the boards. Swiveling his head from his door to the window, he tried to keep himself calm despite knowing that at any moment, he could receive another ambush at the door. He was just hoping that the Shade’s entry through the window would have the results he was hoping for.
Once the boards were cut open, the Shade, a hulking brute of a man, stepped through. Before it could charge at him with the saw, it was halted by one of the bear traps which had bitten into its ankle. Without hesitation, it began to saw away at the leg, but Jackie stopped it with a shot in the chest, then the head.
More Shades began appearing, all bearing makeshift weapons and pierced with the same veins as their predecessors and all receiving the same treatment from his weapon. Now they were getting more aggressive. After killing at least ten more, he aimed for another swinging a large plank of wood, only to hear it click. The Shade swung the plank into Jackie’s left shin. He cried out in pain, but frantically dodged as it tried to bring it down for a finishing strike. Jackie grabbed the hatchet one of the first three had been carrying, then slashed at the veins. An enraged roar sounded from the sky, though whether it was because of control over its puppet being severed or from pain, Jackie couldn’t tell. Either way, it seemed to shake the confidence of the being somewhat, as the Shades suddenly ceased their siege of the cabin.
Jackie stared out at them, confused. He still kept his distance from the red beams of moonlight. Then something new happened. A figure descended from the sky. The Shades all parted, then knelt before it. From a distance, it looked like a man. As it approached, however, Jackie could see the sheer inhumanity of the thing. It too had veins sticking out of it, but unlike the Shades, it only had one vein attached to the moon. Furthermore, all of the veins seemed to run from it into the Shades. The multitude of eyes that coated its sexless, nude figure all resembled the moon, and they all turned their gaze on Jackie before the images raced through his mind again. Then it began addressing him.
Return to us what is ours, thief, it spoke into his mind with soft yet vicious authority. Give to us, the Sanguine Eye, what you have taken, and we shall yet allow you to retain your will. We will let you take the place of this Shade as our Seer. There is no greater honor or pleasure to be found. All you need to do is give us our rightful property.
For an appalling moment, Jackie thought the offer over. Then that moment passed as he saw the moon beginning to move out of the eclipse. It was getting desperate. It was running out of time, so it had resorted to bargaining with him. He responded by removing his revolver, aiming at the Seer and firing at one of the eyes on its torso. It burst open with a cascade of blood and other fluids.
The Seer clutched at the remains of the optical organ in pain, letting out a howl of agony, followed by fury. It pointed a finger at Jackie, then all of the Shades leaped to their feet and charged at the cabin. Jackie began counting the seconds. Just as the Shades entered the cabin and one was about to bring a lead pipe down on his head, the red light from the moon vanished, along with the Shades and their Seer. Sunlight bathed the town of Red Leaf, and Jackie sighed as he lay down, then groaned as he remembered the blow to his leg.
Once he had bandaged his leg, which was thankfully not broken, Jackie headed into the cellar, seated himself at his desk, and took the book out. The design of the hateful, scarlet eye on the cover watched him, judged him. He flipped to the pages with diagrams of an eclipse and hoped the bizarre trance would come over him again, illuminating some means of reversing things. He knew he was responsible for all of this. If he had just left that damn book alone, he wouldn’t have been possessed by the knowledge of what to say to call down the Sanguine Eclipse, as the book referred to it. This was his penance: staying in Red Leaf, surviving the attacks by his former neighbors. The force behind this book, the Sanguine Eye, made no attempt to leave town. Whatever it wanted, it would be incomplete without him. Without the one who summoned the Shades, the “collection” was incomplete. What’s more, it was getting desperate, and he thought he knew why. The book spoke of an event that had always occurred within a year of the Eclipse: the Azure Sun. Evidently, it was the equal and opposite reaction to the Sanguine Eclipse, a force that would cleanse the world of its doings. As long as he drew breath, he was going to make sure the Shades and their master stayed confined to Red Leaf. If he could no longer defend the cabin before the Azure Sun, he would burn it down with him and the book inside. He owed his neighbors that much.

Hello everyone,
My name is Alex Dowd; I’m a news reporter for channel 9 in Southern AZ. I’m doing a story about an increase in young people (under 30) getting vasectomies after the Dobbs V. Jackson SCOTUS decision. If you got the procedure…

1. In Arizona
2. Under the age of 30
3. Because of laws in Arizona or Federally in the last two years

Or a combination of any of those, either message me or comment your experience. I plan on broadcasting the story tonight at 10pm (my time) and will post an update here if y’all are interested!

2024-187 / Zedd MAP: 67.42 / MLZ MAP: 73.84 / Score Gap: 6.42
Wikipedia?wprov=sfti1#) / IMDb / Official Trailer / Our Collection
From IMDb - Adventures of Huck Finn - In Missouri, during the 1840s, young Huck Finn fearful of his drunkard father and yearning for adventure, leaves his foster family and joins with runaway slave Jim in a voyage down the Mississippi River toward slavery free states.
2024-188 / Zedd MAP: 55.68 / MLZ MAP: 40.50 / Score Gap: 15.18
Wikipedia / IMDb / Official Trailer / Our Collection
From IMDB - The Sandlot - In the summer of 1962, a new kid in town is taken under the wing of a young baseball prodigy and his rowdy team, resulting in many adventures.
I rolled out of bed, took a few minutes to wipe the sleep out of my eyes, get that cup of coffee every new sunrise offers, and sat down in my trusted armchair - Mrs. Lady Zedd pushed play and The Adventures of Huck Finn hit the screen. I guess we’re doing this now - Morning Movies, well - I can bring the movie on whenever.
MLZ is a woman possessed - she’s been driving the big numbers we’ve been making this month: these two make #30 and #31 for the month ((damn)), we’re moving right along. If I’m being honest, I always associated movie watching with myself but Mrs. Lady Zedd is a cinephile’s cinephile. You’d have to get up pretty early in the morning to actively engage motion pictures like she does. She’s interested in any genre and I can’t even make that claim.
Neither of us had seen this incarnation of Huck Finn and it’s pretty much a pedestrian look at the life and times of a kid from a very different walk of life and time… but aren’t we just the same? That seems to be the message of any movie pushing Americana at its core. Nothing wrong with that (per se) but my “propaganda” button goes off at times like these.
“I don’t know why,” I say, “but this movie feels like *The Sandlot - the way it’s put together, the syrupy dialog and the clarity of the picture.” MLZ hmms and ya, see thats as I’m talking. It’s not about the story but the way the story is being told. Wide-eyed look back - that overwhelming feeling that the good old days were then, not now. Maybe it’s just me but I suggest we watch The Sandlot next and she readily agrees.
It’s while I’m filling in The Sandlot’s particulars that I spy (with my little eye) both films are from 1993. Ain’t that just the way. I’m filling in my form and am halfway through the cast when I wonder when each were in the theater? If I had to guess, I’d say Sandlot is pure early summer - Huck Finn could be fall?? I check: Sandlot is April 1, 1993 / Huck Finn is April 2, 1993. ((Blink-blink)) I just stare off in space… guess we picked well, from a date standpoint.
I pull up 1993 in the MCC because I wonder - there’s another motion picture I’d throw into a “feels like this” pile, and there it is: Matinee. “Huh” I say out loud - MLZ says, “Sounds about right.” and that’s when all hell broke loose.
The doorbell rang (despite all sorts of signs asking delivery drivers not to) and the dogs straight up go berserk. There are scratch marks above the top of the door - these pups are serious where the doorbell is concerned. The delivery? The very last Disney Movie Club order (this time for real). I’ll post pictures.
As we come to the end of the second film, I have to ask myself - how would either of these movies landed on me if I was 8 in 1993 (instead of 1979). I’m not sure - both movies share an insipid “the way we were” element, a fake history that I’ve always had a mild allergic reaction too. The kids in ‘79 were all hopped up on the future - NASA, and men walking on the moon, and Star Wars, and Tron… everyone I knew couldn’t hardly wait for what the future would hold… if I could broadcast a message from now to then, I’d simply say, “Live for the moment, the future is pretty shit.”
I asked Mrs. Lady Zedd what she thought and she said, “I think you get way too philosophical about everything.” A long blank stare later, I say about the movies. She said both were “fine”. Elijah Wood was more that cute as Huck, you can see he was already developing as an actor.
As for The Soundlot she gave me that fake smile she gives when something didn’t sit well with her. “The over the top of the movie narration just popped my movie bubble - every - damn - time.” She said it was so awkwardly done, so poorly written, so defectively slapped in there, it’s a brown patch in an otherwise “meh” apple.
I’m left to scratch my head. Things can change over time and my MAP dropped significantly since our last viewing in 2021. I normally look up past write ups to make sure I’m not just restating what’s already been said but I know for a fact that won’t be the case. I’d developed some nostalgia for the movie based on our neighborhood’s regular July 4th block party. The guy down the street played The Sandlot on his garage door every year before the fireworks got started.
Our neighborhood had changed a great deal since the pandemic. People moved on, new (less friendly) people moved in. I hate to say it but politics have transformed things as well. I think many of you will recognize what I’m saying. No more 4th of July (or any other) block parties.
What’s the opposite of nostalgia? Sad sentiments, I guess. We’ll be gone from here sooner than later, I hope something positive will come of our time in Texas - some hidden cause to smile, later, when I think back.
Movie on.

Cisco Router Security
What are the two access privilege modes of the Cisco router?
User EXEC Mode: This is the initial access mode for a router. In this mode, the user can access only a limited set of basic monitoring commands.
Privileged EXEC Mode: This mode provides access to all router commands, such as debugging and configuration commands. It requires a password for access to ensure security.
What is the approach for password for the privileged mode of the router?
enable secret [password]
uses hashing algorithm so that the password is not in plain text but encrypted
How to ensure that all passwords in the router are stored in the encrypted form?
service password-encryption
What is the difference between the Cisco router’s startup and running configurations?
How to save the running configuration into start up configuration?
Startup Configuration: Stored in the NVRAM, this configuration is used to boot the router. It remains unchanged until an administrator explicitly saves the running configuration to it.
Running Configuration: Held in the router’s RAM, this configuration is active on the router. Changes to the router’s configuration are made here and are effective immediately.
Know and be able to configure all aspects of the Cisco router covered in class. For example,
configuring the router interfaces, setting the router OSPF ID, etc.
enable
configure terminal
hostname MyRouter
interface GigabitEthernet0/0
ip address 192.168.1.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
exit
interface Serial0/0/0
ip address 10.0.0.1 255.255.255.252
clock rate 64000
no shutdown
exit
router ospf 1
router-id 1.1.1.1
network 192.168.1.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
exit
enable secret mysecretpassword
line console 0
password myconsolepassword
login
exit
line vty 0 4
password myvtypassword
login
exit
crypto key generate rsa
ip ssh version 2
ip ssh time-out 60
ip ssh authentication-retries 2
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.254
access-list 10 permit 192.168.1.0 0.0.0.255
access-list 10 deny any
Practical Routing, OSPF, and Security
What is the difference between static and dynamic routing?
Static Routing: Involves manually setting up routes in the router's routing table through configuration commands. These routes do not change unless manually updated or removed. Static routing is simple, secure, and uses less bandwidth but lacks scalability and flexibility.
Dynamic Routing: Automatically adjusts routes in the routing table based on current network conditions using routing protocols. This approach allows for more flexibility, scalability, and fault tolerance, but consumes more resources and can be complex to configure.
What is the difference between link state and distance vector routing?
Distance Vector Routing: Routers using distance vector protocols calculate the best path to a destination based on the distance and direction (vector) to nodes. Updates are shared with neighboring routers at regular intervals or when changes occur. This approach can lead to slower convergence and issues like routing loops.
Link State Routing: Each router learns the entire network topology by exchanging link-state information. Routers then independently calculate the shortest path to every node using algorithms like Dijkstra’s. This results in quicker convergence and fewer routing loops.
Distance Vector Routing: Each router computes distance from itself to its next immediate neighbors. (RIP, EIGRP, & BGP)
-Does not build a full map of the network
-Focuses more on the next hop towards the destination
Link State Routing: Each router shares knowledge of its neighbors with every other router in the network. (OSPF and IS-IS)
-Builds a full map of the network
-Each router shares information
-Maintains a database of the entire network.
Give an example of the distance vector and link state algorithms.
Distance = RIPLink State = OSPF
What type of protocol is Routing Information Protocol (RIP)? Be able to understand
examples and solve problems.
Example of a distance vector protocol
dynamic protocol
-shares routing info with neighboring routers
-an interior gateway protocol that operates within autonomous system
-oldest of all dynamic protocol; RIPv1
-widely used open standard developed by IETF
-a distance vector routing protocol
-limited to maximum 15 hops;

 how rip works -rip sends regular update message (advertisements to neighboring routers) 

-every 30 seconds that resets after each successful ack
-route becomes invalid if it has not received a message for 180 seconds
-RIPv1 (obsolete) uses broadcast, while RIPv2 uses a multicast address -Update message only travel to a single hop
downside : limitations, each router in its table can only have one entry per destination. Have to wait for advertisement for an alternative path, cannot reach hops 15 paths away, little to no security.
What type of protocol is Open Shortest Paths First (OSPF) protocol? Be able to under-
stand examples and solve problems.

• an interior gateway protocol that operates within autonomous systems to build a full map of the network.
  
• widely used open standard developed by IETF
  

-a link state routing protocol

 intra as routing with RIP 

What is the Link State Advertisement (LSA) in OSPF? What is the Link State Database
(LSDB)?
-LSA contains data about a router, its subnets, and some other network information.-OSPF puts all the LSAs from different routers into a Link-State Database (LSDB)
The goal of OSPF is to be able to determine a complete map of the interior routing path to be able to create the best route possible.
The way this is done is that OSPF finds all the routers and subnets that can be reached within the entire network. The result is that each router will have the same information about the network by sending out LSA.
How does each router in OSPF create a map of the entire network?
Step 1 : Acquire neighbor relationship to exchange network information.
Step 2: Exchange database information, neighboring routers swap LSDB information with each other
Step 3: Choosing the best routes, each router chooses the best routes to add to its routing table based on the learned LSDB information.
What is the process for two OSPF routers to become neighbors?
A. a neighbor sends out a Hello packet including the router ID along with subnets that it routes to the given multicast address to a given OSPF area ID.

this is also a way for routers to tell neighbors that they are still on and good to go. 

B. Once other routers receive this packet, they run some checks. The neighboring routers must match the following requirements:
-area id needs to be the same (also used when scaling up OSPF)
-the shared or connecting link should be on the same subnet.
-The Hello and dead timer must be the same.
-the dead timer is having enogh time before the sending router assumes that the neighbor is down.
-this timer is typically 10 secs for point-to-point and broadcast networks.
C. If all is fine, the receiving router will go into Init stage and sends a hello message of its own. This Hello packet list its own network info along with the known neighbor R1. This puts R1 into a 2-way communication status.
D. R1 sends another Hello message to R2 with the information as a known neighbor. This allows the R2 now with a 2-way communication status as well.E. We now have a 2-way neighboring routers
What is the difference between point-to-point and multi-access networks? How does OSPF
handle each case?

Point-to-Point: A network setup where each connection is between two specific nodes or devices. OSPF treats these links with straightforward neighbor relationships since there are only two routers on each segment. 

Multi-Access Networks: Networks where multiple routers can connect on the same segment, such as Ethernet. OSPF uses a Designated Router (DR) and a Backup Designated Router (BDR) on these types of networks to reduce the amount of OSPF traffic and the size of the topological database.
DR selected by the highest OSPF prio.
Be able to configure OSPF routing given a topology.
–
Example:
Consider a topology with three routers R1, R2, and R3. The routers
are connected R1 =⇒R2 =⇒R3 =⇒R1.
R1 has interface f0/0 connected to the
interface f0/0 of R2. R2 has interface f0/1 connecting to the interface f0/0 of R3.
Finally R3 has interface 1/0 connecting to the interface 1/0 of R3. Assuming all
routers are Cisco 7200 routers, configure them to use OSPF to dynamically route in
this topology (you will be given the Cisco router manual for such questions).
•
R1enable
configure terminal
hostname R1
interface FastEthernet0/0
ip address 192.168.12.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
exit
interface FastEthernet1/0
ip address 192.168.31.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
exit
router ospf 1
router-id 1.1.1.1
network 192.168.12.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
network 192.168.31.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
exit
end
write memory
R2enable
configure terminal
hostname R2
interface FastEthernet0/0
ip address 192.168.12.2 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
exit
interface FastEthernet0/1
ip address 192.168.23.1 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
exit
router ospf 1
router-id 2.2.2.2
network 192.168.12.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
network 192.168.23.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
exit
end
write memory
R3enable
configure terminal
hostname R3
interface FastEthernet0/0
ip address 192.168.23.2 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
exit
interface FastEthernet1/0
ip address 192.168.31.2 255.255.255.0
no shutdown
exit
router ospf 1
router-id 3.3.3.3
network 192.168.23.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
network 192.168.31.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
exit
end
write memory
How does OSPF authenticate packets to protect against packet spoofing and tempering?
Be able to enable it a Cisco router.
OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) can authenticate packets to protect against packet spoofing and tampering using several methods. The two main types of authentication are:
Plain Text Authentication: This is simple and provides minimal security. It sends the password in clear text.
Message Digest 5 (MD5) Authentication: This provides stronger security by using cryptographic hash functions to authenticate OSPF packets.
Plain textenable
configure terminal
interface FastEthernet0/0
ip address 192.168.12.1 255.255.255.0
ip ospf authentication
ip ospf authentication-key cisco123
no shutdown
exit
router ospf 1
router-id 1.1.1.1
network 192.168.12.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
area 0 authentication
exit
write memory
MD5enable
configure terminal
interface FastEthernet0/0
ip address 192.168.12.1 255.255.255.0
ip ospf authentication message-digest
ip ospf message-digest-key 1 md5 securepassword
no shutdown
exit
router ospf 1
router-id 1.1.1.1
network 192.168.12.0 0.0.0.255 area 0
area 0 authentication message-digest
exit
write memory
Network Defense Fundamentals
•
What is IP spoofing? Explain.
-The ip packet contains the source and destination Ip addresses.-Is it straightforward to modify the ip address of the packet.
-IP Spoofing: sender chagrin his source address to something other than his real address.
How can IP spoofing be used in security attacks?
-If the attacker sends an Ip packet with a spoofed IP, they will not receive a response form the destination: the machine with the IP matching the spoofed IP will receive the response.Ip spoofing operation - the sender spoofs the source IP address to point to another target. The receiver system replies to the spoofed IP.
•
What are the countermeasures to IP spoofing?
Ingress and Egress Filtering: Network operators should implement filtering rules on routers and firewalls to block packets with source IP addresses that should not originate from those networks. Ingress filtering blocks incoming packets with a source IP address that is not valid for the network, while egress filtering blocks outgoing packets with an invalid source IP address.
Reverse Path Forwarding (RPF): This technique ensures that the incoming packets are received on the same interface that the router would use to send traffic back to the source. If the path does not match, the packet is discarded, preventing spoofed packets from passing through.
IPsec (Internet Protocol Security): IPsec can be used to authenticate and encrypt IP packets, ensuring that they come from legitimate sources and have not been tampered with. This makes spoofing attacks significantly more difficult.
How can IP spoofing be used to perform DoS attacks?
IP spoofing is often used in Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to obscure the attacker's identity and to overwhelm the target with traffic from what appears to be multiple sources. One common type of DoS attack that utilizes IP spoofing is a Smurf Attack. In a Smurf Attack, the attacker sends ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) echo requests to broadcast addresses of networks, with the source IP address spoofed to that of the victim. The devices on the network respond to the echo requests, sending replies back to the victim's IP address. This amplifies the traffic directed at the victim, potentially overwhelming their network and causing a DoS condition.
•
Know how to use
hping3
for performing ping floods.
Using hping3 to perform ping floods involves sending a high volume of ICMP Echo Request packets to a target to overwhelm it.basic ping floodsudo hping3 -1 --flood [target_IP]
Using spoofed source ipsudo hping3 -1 --flood -a [spoofed_IP] [target_IP]
Controlling the Packet Sending Rateo hping3 -1 --flood -i u1000 [target_IP]Combining sudo hping3 -1 --flood -a 10.0.0.1 -i u1000 192.168.1.1
Firewalling
What is a firewall?
a filtering device on a network that enforces network security policy and protects the network against external attacks.
According to NIST SP 800-41, what are the characteristics of a firewall?
NIST standard defines the possible characteristics that a firewall can use to filter traffic.
-(IP Address and Protocol type) filtering based on source/destination IP address/ports, traffic direction and other transport layer characteristics.
-(Application Protocols)controls access based on application protocol data
-(User identity) controls access based on user identity
-(Network activity)
What are the limitations of the firewall?
Firewall capabilities: -Define a traffic chokepoint in the network and protects against IP spoofing and routing attacks
-Provide a location for monitoring the security events -Provide non-security functions: loggin internet usage, network address translation-Serve as platform for VPN/IPSec
Firewall limitations:-protect against attacks bypassing the firewall, connections from inside the organization to the outside that do not go through the firewall.-protect against internal threats such as disgruntled employees.
What is a packet filter firewall? Be able to write and interpret rules and to spot configu-
rationflaws.
Packet filtering firewall : applies a set of rules to each packet based on the packet headers.Filters based on: source/destination IP, source/destination port numbers, IP Protocol Field:defines the transport protocol, Interface : for firewalls with 3+ network interfaces, the interface from which the packet came from/going to
•
What is the difference between the default and allow and default deny policies? Which
one is the more secure one?
-when no rules apply to a packet, a default rule is applied: default deny : what is not explicitly permitted is denied default forward : what is not explicitly denied is allowed
default deny is more secure, you dont have to identify all of the cases that needs to be blocked, if one is missed, default deny will deny it.
Port 0-1023 reserved
1024-2**17 ephemeral
source port used by the system initialiatizng a connection is always chosen from the ephemeral ports
Be able to configure the packet filtering functions of iptables.
–
Example:
Write iptables rules to block all ICMP traffic to and from the system.
iptables -A INPUT -p icmp -j DROP
iptables -A OUTPUT -p icmp -j DROP
Example:
Write iptables rules to block all traffic on port 22
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --sport 22 -j DROP
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j DROP
–
Example:
Write iptables rules to block traffic to host 192.168.2.2
iptables -A OUTPUT -p tcp --dest 192.168.2.2 -j DROP
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --src 192.168.2.2 -j DROP
What are the limitations of the packet filter firewall?
-does not examine upper layer data : cannot prevent attacks that employ application specfic vulnerabilities or functions.cannot block application specific commands.
•
What is the stateful firewall and how does it compare to a packet filter?
A stateful firewall is a network security device that monitors and tracks the state of active connections, making decisions based on the context of the traffic. Unlike a simple packet filter, which examines individual packets in isolation based on predetermined rules, a stateful firewall keeps track of connections over time, distinguishing between legitimate packets that are part of an established session and potentially malicious ones. This contextual awareness allows it to block unauthorized connection attempts and prevent attacks such as spoofing and session hijacking. While packet filters, or stateless firewalls, operate faster and consume fewer resources by applying static rules to each packet independently, they lack the sophisticated traffic pattern handling and enhanced security provided by stateful firewalls.
•
What is the application-level firewall? What are its advantages and limitations?
An application-level firewall, also known as an application firewall or proxy firewall, operates at the application layer of the OSI model. It inspects and filters traffic based on the specific application protocols (e.g., HTTP, FTP, DNS) rather than just IP addresses and port numbers. limitations : increased communications overhead due to two separate TCP connections

 and not transparent to the client 

Application-level gateways are also known as application-level proxies.
-act as a relay for the application-level traffic.
-runs at the application layer, and examines application-layer data
Supported ProtocolsFTPSTMPHTTP
What is a circuit-level firewall? What are its advantages and limitations?
-Similar to the application-level gateway, but only tracks the state of the TCP/UDP sessions.
-Does not examine application data , simply relays TCP segments
-Allow/deny decisions based on whether a packet belongs to an established and trusted connection
Advantage of circuit-level firewall -do not filter individual packets(simplifies rules)

-fast and efficient 

Disadvantages:

-do not filter individual packets -require frequent updates: traffic is filtered with rules and policies that need regular updates for new threats and risks -the vendor needs to modify the TCP/IP implementation for thor applications to use the circuit-level proxy. 

What are the different approaches to basing the firewall?

-stand-alone machines -software modules in roosters, switches, or servers, or pre-configured security appliances. 

What are the host-based firewalls?
Host-based firewalls: a firewall software module used to secure a single host.
What are the network device firewalls?
Network device firewall = routers and switches often have firewall functions, like packet filtering and stateful inspection, to check and filter packets
What are the virtual firewalls?
-in a virtualized environment, servers, switches, and routers can be virtualized and share physical hardware. The hypervisor that manages the virtual machines can also have firewall capabilities.
What is the DMZ? How is it used for securing networks?
A Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in network security is a physical or logical subnetwork that contains and exposes an organization's external-facing services to an untrusted network, typically the internet. The primary purpose of a DMZ is to add an additional layer of security to an organization's local area network (LAN). By isolating these externally accessible services, the DMZ ensures that if an attacker gains access to the public-facing systems, they do not have direct access to the rest of the network.
How the DMZ Secures Networks
Isolation of Public Services: Services that need to be accessible from the outside, such as web servers, mail servers, FTP servers, and DNS servers, are placed in the DMZ. These services are isolated from the internal network, which helps protect the internal systems from attacks that may exploit vulnerabilities in the public-facing services.
Controlled Access: Firewalls are used to create boundaries between the internet, the DMZ, and the internal network. The firewall rules are configured to allow only specific types of traffic to and from the DMZ. For example, incoming web traffic might be allowed to reach a web server in the DMZ, but not to access internal systems directly.
Minimal Exposure: Only the necessary services are exposed to the internet. This minimizes the attack surface, reducing the number of entry points that an attacker can exploit. Internal systems and data remain protected behind the additional layer of the firewall.
Layered Security: The DMZ provides an additional layer of defense (defense-in-depth). Even if an attacker manages to compromise a server in the DMZ, the internal network is still protected by another firewall, making it harder for the attacker to penetrate further.
Monitoring and Logging: Activities within the DMZ can be closely monitored and logged. Any suspicious behavior can be detected early, and appropriate actions can be taken to mitigate potential threats before they impact the internal network.
Traffic Filtering: The firewalls between the internet and the DMZ, as well as between the DMZ and the internal network, can filter traffic based on IP addresses, ports, and protocols. This filtering ensures that only legitimate traffic is allowed and that malicious traffic is blocked.
-if attacker compromises a server on the network, they will be able to pivot to other systems on the network.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of having the two DMZ firewalls be from
different vendors?
Using different firewall manufacturers for the two firewalls maybe a good idea, avoids possibility of both having the same vulnerability but introduces more complexity and management overhead.
Be able to write pfSense firewall rules
Penetration Testing
•
What is penetration testing?
-legal and suthorzied attempt to locate and exploit vulnerable systems for the purpose of making those systems more secure.

pen testing, pt, hacking, ethical hacking, whitehate hacking, offensive security, red teaming 

What is the objective of the penetration testing?

Use tools and techniques used by the attackers in order to discover security vulnerabilities before the attackers do. 

What is the BAD pyramid?

The purpose of a red team is to find ways to improve the blue team, so purple teams should not be needed in an organization where the red/blue teams interaction is healthy and functioning properly. 

red attack
purple defender changes based off attack knowledge
blue defend
green builder changes based on defender knowledge
yellow build
orange builder changes based on attacker knowledge
Why are the penetration tests conducted?
-a company may want to have a stronger understanding of their security footprint.

-system policy shortcomings -network protocol weaknesses -network/software misconfigurations -software vulnerabilities 

What is the difference between penetration testing and vulnerability assessment?
-two terms often incorrectly ,interchangeably used in practice.
-vulnerability assessment : review of systems services to find potential vulnerabilities-penetration testing: finding an exploiting system vulnerabilities as proof-of-concept
What is the difference between black-box, white-box, and grey-box testing.
Black-Box Testing
Tester Knowledge: The tester has no knowledge of the internal structure, code, or implementation details of the system.
-lack knowledge of system
White-Box Testing
Tester Knowledge: The tester has full knowledge of the internal structure, code, and implementation details of the system.
-very thorough , but not completely realistic
Grey-Box Testing
Tester Knowledge: The tester has partial knowledge of the internal structure, code, or implementation details of the system.
What is the difference between ethical and unethical hackers?
-penetration testers, with proper authorization of the company, help improve the security of the company.
-unethical hackers, personal gain through extortion or other devious methods, profit, revenge, fame, etc. No authorization to conduct the attacks
•Ethical vs unethical hacking, penetration testers: obtain the authorization from the organization whose systems they plan to attack unethical hackers: attack without authorization.
Know the stages of penetration testing and the importance of following a structured ap-
proach.
–
Planning and Reconnaissance:
Planning: Define the scope and goals of the test, including the systems to be tested and the testing methods.
Reconnaissance: Gather information about the target, such as IP addresses, domain names, and network infrastructure, to understand how to approach the test.
Scanning:
Purpose: Identify potential entry points and vulnerabilities in the target system.
Methods: Use tools to scan for open ports, services running on those ports, and known vulnerabilities.
Gaining Access:
Purpose: Attempt to exploit identified vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to the system.
Techniques: Use techniques like password cracking, SQL injection, or exploiting software vulnerabilities.
Maintaining Access:
Planning and Reconnaissance:
Purpose: Ensure continued access to the compromised system to understand the potential impact of a prolonged attack.
Methods: Install backdoors or use other methods to maintain control over the system.
Analysis and Reporting:
Scanning
Purpose: Document the findings, including vulnerabilities discovered, methods used, and the level of access achieved.
Report: Provide a detailed report to the organization, highlighting the risks and recommending steps to mitigate the vulnerabilities.
Remediation:
Gaining Access
Purpose: Address and fix the identified vulnerabilities to improve the security of the system.
Action: Implement the recommended security measures from the report to protect against future attacks.
Retesting:
Maintaining Access
Purpose: Verify that the vulnerabilities have been successfully remediated.
Process: Conduct a follow-up test to ensure that the fixes are effective and no new issues have been introduced.
Importance of Following a Structured Approach
Consistency: A structured approach ensures that each stage is systematically followed, making the testing thorough and reliable.
Comprehensiveness: Following each stage helps identify and address all potential vulnerabilities, leaving no gaps in the security assessment.
Documentation: A structured method produces detailed documentation, which is crucial for understanding the security posture and for future reference.
Effectiveness: It ensures that the penetration test effectively mimics real-world attack scenarios, providing valuable insights into how an actual attacker might exploit vulnerabilities.
Risk Management: By identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, organizations can proactively manage security risks and protect their assets from potential attacks.
Example:
What is the difference between the passive and active reconnaissance?
•
Passive Reconnaissance
Definition: Gathering information about the target without directly interacting with the target system or network. The aim is to collect data without alerting the target.
Methods:
Publicly Available Information: Searching for information that is freely available on the internet, such as social media profiles, company websites, and news articles.
DNS Queries: Looking up domain registration information (WHOIS data), DNS records, and IP address ranges.
Network Traffic Analysis: Capturing and analyzing network traffic without sending packets to the target (e.g., using tools like Wireshark in a non-intrusive manner).
Search Engines: Using search engines to find information about the target, such as employee names, email addresses, and technical details.
Advantages:
Low Risk: Minimizes the chance of detection by the target because no direct interaction occurs.
Stealth: Suitable for the early stages of reconnaissance when the goal is to remain undetected.
Disadvantages:
Limited Information: May not provide as much detailed or specific information about vulnerabilities or configurations as active reconnaissance.
Active Reconnaissance
Definition: Actively engaging with the target system or network to gather information. This involves direct interaction, such as sending packets or probing the target.
Methods:
Network Scanning: Using tools like Nmap to scan for open ports, running services, and network topology.
Vulnerability Scanning: Running vulnerability scanners (e.g., Nessus, OpenVAS) to identify known weaknesses in the target systems.
Social Engineering: Directly interacting with individuals (e.g., phishing attacks) to gather information.
Probing and Enumerating: Sending specific queries or packets to the target to elicit responses that reveal information about the system (e.g., banner grabbing).
Advantages:
Detailed Information: Provides more detailed and specific information about the target's vulnerabilities, configurations, and active services.
Identification of Weaknesses: More effective in identifying exploitable vulnerabilities that can be used in subsequent attack phases.
Disadvantages:
Higher Risk: Increases the risk of detection by the target, which could alert them to the reconnaissance activity.
Potential Legal Issues: Unauthorized active reconnaissance can lead to legal repercussions if done without permission.
Summary
Passive Reconnaissance: Involves gathering information without direct interaction with the target, resulting in lower risk of detection but potentially less detailed information.
Active Reconnaissance: Involves direct interaction with the target to gather detailed information, but carries a higher risk of detection and potential legal consequences.
Both types of reconnaissance are essential in penetration testing to understand the target's environment and identify potential vulnerabilities while balancing the need for stealth and detailed information.
Be able to use the penetration testing tools discussed in class
nmap 192.168.1.1
nmap -sS -sV -O -A 192.168.1.1-sS: Perform a stealth SYN scan.
-sV: Detect service versions.
-O: Detect operating system.
-A: Perform aggressive scan (includes OS detection, version detection, script scanning, and traceroute).

3 of them are officially recognized as Archangels by the Latin Church: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. With a fourth sometimes being venerated: Uriel
The 7 Archangels of the Latin Rite

1. Michael: The Prince of the Heavenly Host. The Commander of God’s Army. The Archenemy of Satan. The Angel of Death. Associated with Protection, Courage, and War. Patron Saint of Police Officers, The Military Branch of the Church, Paratroopers, and Paramedics.
   
2. Gabriel: The Messenger of God. The Archangel of Wisdom, Prophecy, Revelations, Visions, and Dream Interpretation. He delivers messages to God’s people. The Patron Saint of clerics, postal workers, radio broadcasters, and contemplative life.
   
3. Raphael: The Archangel of Healing and Travelers. He taught Tobias how to make a tonic to cure his blindness and protected him and his wife Sarah from the demon Asmodeus. Patron Saint of Pharmacists, Herbalists, Apothecaries, Nurses, Physicians, and Protection for Travelers.
   
4. Uriel: The Archangel of Knowledge, Prophecy, Salvation, Enlightenment, Repentance, Hell, Truth, Justice, Purgatorial Flames, Poetry, and Retribution. He is the Patron Saint of the Arts and Sciences. Sometimes considered to be the same as Archangel Phanuel.
   
5. Raguel: The Archangel of Justice and Vengeance. Also associated with family Harmony and healing of relationships. Seeks justice on God’s behalf. Acts as a sheriff that punishes demons. Considered by some to be the Patron Saint of Divine Orders.
   
6. Zachariel: Archangel of God’s Judgement. The presiding prince of the Sun. Has dominion over the Earth. The Angel of Forbidden Knowledge who taught humanity the cycles of the Moon and taught the Rabbi Ishmael Hygiene. An Angel of Memories and Dreams. A healing angel: Heals Addictions and Pets. The Prince of Ministering Angels. Some claim that he leads souls to the afterlife (although this role is usually given to Michael in Catholicism). The Archangel of Children who protects them from sinful and abusive parents.
   
7. Jeremiel: The Archangel of Faith and Hope. He delivers prophetic dreams to spiritual people.
   

My entire town stood by as I was groomed. I was 14 and he was 22 but because he was funny and attractive nobody cared. We were the talk of the town for so long because of the dramatics of our "relationship" broadcasted on his popular snapchat channel. He made my peers love him and alienate me so I'd be all his. Because of him I lost out on all of highschool. I didn't have friends, never got to go out and didn't graduate because I was with him. He had me around his finger for 6 years. Contantly blackmailing me, he had a huge online following he would post horrible things about me to whenever I did something wrong or tried to leave. He was a manipulative monster behind closed doors. I can't even remember most of the horrible thing he did to me. The last year together he became a drug addict and almost killed me. That was my wake up call. I tired to leave and he stalked and threatened me, 200 calls a day on burners and posted horrible inappropriate photos of me. All of this was extremely public thanks to him. I had to move away to get away. I'm 24 now and still have nightmares most nights, I think about him everyday still, I cry so much. I cry so much. I feel so invalidated by everyone. I can't stand that everyone watched my abuse, my parents, teachers, therapist, cops. Sure karma might have gotten him a little with the drug addict stuff but I heard he's doing okay now unfortunately. He got away with all of this and I'm still broken every single day. To top it off a few years ago he messaged me on a new account to tell me how his therapist said it would be good for him to apologize to me (not for the right things) and said he still loves me, complete narcissist. Trigger homicidal rage. I can't get away from the invalidating feelings, nightmares, flashbacks. There's nobody in my life I can talk to about this so here you go Redd.

Broadcasting yourself as someone interesting who stands apart from the crowd of neckbeards on Reddit while not coming off as an arrogant tool is a difficult task. I'm not sure if I'm particularly excelling at it with this post, but I'm going to give it a try.
I'm looking for new people to talk to, to have genuine interesting conversation with, to talk games and movies, to trade dog pictures, or just flirt the night away. If you can do all of these, I might just fall in love.
I'm nerdy, flirty, and more than a bit wordy. When I'm not out with my dog exploring nature, I'm probably going on long drives with good music to find a new spot or restaurant. Or maybe I'm at home with a book, a game, a movie marathon.
I work in an Alzheimer's ward so it's basically a rule that you have to be nice to me and keep me company on these long shifts of dementia.
Message me. I'm reasonably sure you won't regret it.

Broadcasting yourself as someone interesting who stands apart from the crowd of neckbeards on Reddit while not coming off as an arrogant tool is a difficult task. I'm not sure if I'm particularly excelling at it with this post, but I'm going to give it a try.
I'm looking for new people to talk to, to have genuine interesting conversation with, to talk games and movies, to trade dog pictures, or just flirt the night away. If you can do all of these, I might just fall in love.
I'm nerdy, flirty, and more than a bit wordy. When I'm not out with my dog exploring nature, I'm probably going on long drives with good music to find a new spot or restaurant. Or maybe I'm at home with a book, a game, a movie marathon.
I work in an Alzheimer's ward so it's basically a rule that you have to be nice to me and keep me company on these long shifts of dementia.
Message me. I'm reasonably sure you won't regret it.

FIRST CHAPTER
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
This product is a fanfic of the Sexy Space Babes/Between Worlds product of u/Bluefishcake and one I highly suggest you read. It was created with permission, but give the OG works some love.
Imgr gallery of Comissioned and Fan Artworks
I'm Back Bitches! Again!
//////////
Junior Systems Engineer First Class Che’keero knelt before a semi-sparking control panel and sighed. She, and a large band of her fellow Engineers with Marine support, had boarded the pirate frigate with the singular goal of ensuring that the pirates didn’t scuttle their floating hulk and doom the slaves aboard to a, if they were lucky, a swift death in space.
The problem, of course, came with the pirate’s maintenance schedules and decisions to forgo certain… safety measures when it came to repair.
Like the panel before her. Usually a perfectly functional control system for the reverse-magnetic bulkhead doors that ensured void seals in power outages, some pirate at some point in their dumb, dumb life decided to fix the panel blowing a fuse… by ripping the fuse out and replacing it with a high density power cable. Which meant the entire thing was one massive shock hazard and actively sparking as the reactors deep in the ship flickered and surged due to damage.
Che’keero swore as an arc of electricity flashed towards her face after a tool that was not supposed to be magnetized, cheap dick WaDepth requisitions, caught a magnetic field, fusing the entire system shut and turning the formerly barely functional control system into nothing but pretty, decorative wiring and cheap solder. She punched the now utterly unfunctional control box and toggled on her radio. “Three-Two to Three-Lead, this door’s fried. You’ll need to bring in the cutters if we want to get to the rest of the ship. Might as well also bring in an inflatable airlock, I’m not liking how some of the metal strain sensors are flashing at me.”
A semi-synthetic voice replied back to Che’keero, “Three-Lead copies. I’ll be over there shortly with the stuff. Double check those sensors, I’m not getting the same readings, so let’s make sure something isn’t blocking errors from reaching me.”
“Copy that Three-Lead, Three-Two ou-” Something tapped against the back of her helmet and Junior Systems Engineer First Class Che’keero mentally swore.
“Now, now, lassie, how about you sit right there and don’t move.” A nasally, unfamiliar voice called out to her while tapping what a camera she set up to watch her back revealed to be a laser pistol to Che’keero’s helmet. “I think that you’re going to be our new best friend and way off this dead end ship.”
Che’keero paused, letting the situation settle in her mind, “Wait, what? Are… are you taking me hostage?”
“Yes!” The pirate replied.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you taking me hostage? This won’t work, none of the shuttles are jump capable and if you try anything, you’ll just end up jumped by marines. They specifically train to deal with pirates taking their engineers hostage. If you want to survive, you should just surrender and take the penal colony when it’s offered.” Che’keero mentioned, shrugging and continuing her inspection of the door.
The pirate seemed baffled at the sheer nonchalance of this response, the pistol slowly falling to merely point at her upper back instead of her head, “You… you really aren’t taking this seriously. I’m a pirate! I’ve killed people! I’ve killed boys, and you’re just sitting there like this doesn’t mean anything!”
“I mean… I wouldn’t say that.” Che’keero replied.
“THEN WHAT DO YOU MEAN!” The pirate screamed, the pistol moving away from Che’keero’s body by a fraction of an inch during an angry gesture.
It was at that point, a ceramic alloyed, carbon steel blade punched clean through the back of the pirate’s suit, slicing through their central nervous system and striking with enough force to shatter the faceplate of said pirate’s helmet on the way out. Muscles twitching, the laser pistol fired off randomly, missing Che’keero and slagging a chunk of bulkhead.
“I’m just buying time,” Che’keero replied cheekily.
“You really need to remember to check your cameras,” The semi-synthetic voice of Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns commented as the ex-pirate fell to the ground and blue blood dripped from the long blade sprouting from her right arm and a toolbox hanging from her left hand. “This isn’t the first time you have been flanked, and this one wasn’t during training.”
“Look, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” Che’keero replied a bit testily.
“I’m sorry…” Ventures Forth prodded.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am.”
“Much better. Right, now what do we see in this- yeah you were right on it being fried.” Ventures Forth gently shoved the Junior Systems Engineer aside and took her place at the control panel. “Do a sweep of the strain systems. I don’t want this section of the ship breaking apart. Feel free to call up our hull patches. We’ve got plenty to share and this might have to be a lifeboat.”
“Aye, ma’am aye,” Che’keero replied with a crisp salute before rushing off to her duty.
Deeper inside the ship, Ventures Forth could hear laser fire, clashing of metal on metal, and cries for help.
The pirate ship was doomed, it was shattered and broken, but it was not destroyed. Not yet. \
And if she had her way, Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns would keep it that way.
//////////
Roshal stood still as her steward continued to clean the dark blue and rapidly congealing blood off her armored form. “Comms,” She called out, “Do we have any contact with the shuttle we sent to the station?”
“Negative, ma’am.” The comm officer replied. She wasn’t the same one that was present when Roshal left to fend off the boarders. At the unspoken question, the woman continued “Communication’s Mate Second Class Lev’tal, ma’am. My superior got a concussion when the pirate ship rocked our ship during boarding. Strap snapped, prior damage. I took over.”
Roshal nodded approvingly, “Good initiative. Send a message to the station, see if we can’t rai-”
“Ma’am! Contact!” One of her sensor techs called out, “Belay that, two contacts. First contact, nav point 782 spinward, possible bogey, cruiser weight. Unknown movements. Second contact, nav point 102 coreward, aerospace assets inbound. Small flight. Hard to determine numbers due to damage. No less than two, no more than five.”
“Focus on getting a hard contact on that possible cruiser. Weapons, what is the status of our anti-aerospace.” Roshal demanded, holding her sword arm out for the steward to scrub at a particularly clotted chunk of blood splattered over her wrist.
The weapons officer shook her head, “If we’re lucky, then we’ve got 20% coverage on half our sides. If we’re very lucky, I might be able to bump that number up to 35%. Not going to quote doctrine, but that’s not nearly enough to fend off a flight of Aerospace assets on a strike run, and that’s assuming they don’t hit us on an unprotected flank.”
Roshal nodded once more, “Sound general quarters and get weapons and tactical back online. Tell the damage control parties to not be distracted and focus on critical systems first. Engine room, report. Can you give me maneuvering thrust?”
The nearby ship phone chimed in with a staticy hiss, “Negative, ma’am. The shot we made with the spinal mount tripped breakers up and down the reactor room. This isn’t an engine problem, we need to make sure our reactor doesn’t blow up when we siphon power. Before you ask, emergency power is still flowing and none of their circuits tripped, but that means we’re down to life support, basic systems, and dockyard thrusters. It will take at least 20 to get the reactor in a safe state. If you want 10, send the chaplain down so we have someone praying for good luck. The fact most of our structural engineers are doing an EVA boarding to ensure the pirate ship next to us doesn’t go critical and render the entire exercise moot isn’t helping matters at all.” The engine room replied Roshal bit down a bit of annoyance at the snark, but engineers were always a finicky sort with authority. They were the first to remind uptight officers that while the Captain’s word may be iron law, it was their work that truly moved the ship.
“Confirmed, engine room.” Roshal instead replied. “Chaplains will be arriving shortly. Do what you can and inform me when you’re three minutes out from full power.”
The engine room didn’t even bother replying, just sending over the affirmative light as they got to work. Roshal approved of that. Sometimes, you just had to insult someone in order to get it working right.
“Captain, we have confirmation on contact. He’s an Alliance Karcharidon class Heavy Cruiser on intercept course. Energy readings are spiking… they’re charging their guns, ma’am!”
“Issue a hostile challenge and give me a firing solution with any gun still functional.”
“No response, ma’am. Hostile Karcharidon is increasing speed. Hard contact in 15 minutes.”
Roshal snarled, emotion breaking through her mask. “Of course, the pirates had one more vessel. Helm, fire our maneuvering thrusters, use the pirate hulk as cover. Weapons, get whoever’s left of our Interceptor flight to engage the enemy. Comms, get me in contact with the merchant fleet, tell them to evacuate. We’ll provide cover.”
“Aye ma’am.” The Communications Mate Second Class said with a shiver in her voice. “Sending-”
“Update on Aerospace assets!” Her sensor tech called out.
“Deliver!” Roshal demanded, cutting off the comms officer with a slice of her hand.
“Weapons fire. Definitely less than four contacts. Seems to be two grou- negative, only two contacts remaining- weaponsfire- one contac- IFF received, oh goddesses, IT’S RUNOFF THREE! FRIENDLY AEROSPACE INBOUND!”
//////////
Milk gripped her crash harness hard as Cookie slammed the Interceptor’s fusion torch clean past its safe thrust marker and into the red as g forces crushed her chest. “Last target down.” She reported after Cookie’s final laser burst hit something critical inside the final Aerospace fighter’s frame. “That’s 20 for 20. All enemy bogeys down. All standard munitions are in the black. Static drive is 48%, dump core ejected. All we’ve got left is our ASM and front laser.”
Cookie flashed back an affirmative signal.
“We going for that cruiser?”
Another affirmative.
“Well, I’m braced and ready on the release. Ready.”
“Ready.” Cookie spoke, his voice horse.
It’s funny what people think when their lives are on the line. Because charging towards a fresh enemy Heavy Cruiser, nothing but a single anti-shipping missile worth a damn, no allied support but the faint glimmer in IFF screens of their fellow flight doing the same… all Aoibhinn McDermott could think of was a poem she had read at least a decade ago or more at the Naval Academy.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the Valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
//////////
Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns could do nothing but furiously swear as the basic sensor system her engineering team had restored on the thoroughly ventilated secondary command bridge of the pirate hulk revealed an enemy Heavy Cruiser bearing down upon their homeship.
“Weapons are trashed. We cored their reactor, anyway.” One of the tangential engineers reported, “Other teams are calling in. Things are worse where they are. We’ve found the slaves, though, luckily it was one of the few airtight bays. Also, have some more captives, but that really doesn’t matter right now.”
“No shit.” Ventures Forth replied, “Can we do anything?”
The engineer looked back to her, visor depolarizing so the Gearschilde can look into the black and yellow eyes of her Shil coworker.
“Pray.” The woman replied simply.
Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns did just that.
//////////
Low chanting filled the engine bay as a small group of priests stood around the engine praying to whichever god that would listen to allow them one more shot. One more fight.
Around them, black handed engineers scurried, ripping out blown fuses and replacing them with soldered in high strength wire. A final measure of desperation. Sparks flew as engineers swore and chaplains prayed, power still remaining in circuits needing to be bled out before bypasses could be installed, turning every bit of solder and every ripped out fuse into a deadly gamble.
Already, someone was lying on the ground, no longer twitching.
They didn’t have time to check on their fallen comrade, the work was too important.
A clock ticked down. Four minutes elapsed.
//////////
Lieutenant Commander Cenywyn swore as she watched Runoff 2 die.
Their single Interceptor had mistimed a maneuver and had been caught dead in the middle of an Anti-Aerospace array, shredded in an instant. The only consolation she could take was that, seeing as the first shot went clean through the cockpit, they didn’t even notice they died.
“Runoff 4, stay in formation.” She ordered over the radio, “We’ll lead you in for the run.”
“Yes ma’am.” The hesitant voice of Junior Flight Lieutenant Griogill replied. She swallowed, “We’re- we’re ready when you are.”
“No fear, Lieutenant,” Cenywyn called back to the child she was leading to her death. “We’re pilots in the Imperial Patrol. We do our duty. No fear.”
A clock ticked down. Six minutes elapsed.
//////////
“Talk to me!” The last remaining senior engineer in the reactor bay called out to anyone who was able to reply.
Someone, she didn’t even bother looking to see who, called back “We’ve bypassed 60% of the fuses. Should be able to give ourselves a burst of combat power. No more than 10 minutes of it before the entire system overheats and we either die, or the reactor shuts off.”
“Any chance we can get more than 10 minutes?”
“Not before that Heavy Cruiser delivers us straight to the stars.”
“Fuck it, good enough.” She slammed her fist on the ship phone’s dialing button resting near the console the engineer had just ripped the last safety override out of. “Captain. We’ve got your power. You give us the word, and we’ll give you ten minutes.”
//////////
Roshal breathed in, breathed out, and nodded. 10 minutes of combat power before the entire ship shut down into uselessness. She’d done more with less. She couldn’t remember when, but she had. Luckily, this was a Patrol Carrier instead of a standard ship, so it was more than capable of combat maneuvers with nothing but RCS thrusters. That should give her some time.
Movement, movement was going to be the key.
“Comms, tell the engineering crews on the hulk that they are ordered to figure out anything that could draw the attention of the Heavy Cruiser,” She began, “Systems, break our mooring lines. We’re going to have to split from the hulk. Helm, prepare for maneuvers. RCS only. We are going to have to do this carefully. Engineroom, prepare for power activation, but hold until my command.”
This needs to be perfect, Roshal thought, A single mistimed action ruins it all.
A clock ticked down. Ten minutes elapsed. The Karcharidon had entered maximum weapon’s range.
//////////
He of Slender Tail shivered where he stood. The secondary command bridge was silent as Roshal began giving orders to fight. This was… this was insane.
They were in a ruined ship with nothing but a merchant fleet beginning to flee and a three thirds dead pirate hulk on their side against a fresh Karcharidon class Heavy Cruiser.
They couldn’t win.
This was suicide.
They would die here.
\ So why didn’t He of Slender Tail feel afraid?
He stood at his post, a secondary bridge console where he would relay orders to other departments, freeing up the other Watchkeeper to collate those orders, there was nothing he could do to help win this impossible battle, and yet…
And yet he felt heat blossoming inside his chest with every single order delivered.
“Mooring teamsss, you are to cut your linesss immediately.” He relayed to a crew of Shil scurrying around the ruined bulkheads, “Damage control, prepare for electrical firesss and arcsss.” He commanded, switching between teams instantly.
He didn’t feel fear. He could see his Watchkeeper shiver every time the sensors reported the enemy contact was still closing, but he didn’t feel the same.
What he felt… was indignation.
How dare this pirate scum threaten his vessel, his crew. How dare they ambush this valiant ship after they had fought so hard to win. How dare they.
He let his fangs fold out as he spat the next order, “Anti-Aerossspace teamsss, prepare your batteriesss for grouped fire. Gunnery calculationsss are on their way.”
How dare they stand up to him.
A clock ticked down. 12 minutes elapsed. Weapons fire.
//////////
Roshal swayed slightly as she could feel the ship beneath her feet move. Movement is life in naval warfare, movement is death. “Right RCS fire, bring us clear of the hulk. Bow thrusters, up twenty.”
“Aye, ma’am, aye, right standard and bow up twenty.” The Helmswoman replied.
“Confirmed. Next maneuver, give us rear thrust-”
“Torpedo!” The sensor operator called out in a shrill voice, “Two marks on intercept course! Range, twelve K and closing fast!”
“Decorum!” Roshal snapped at the panicking sensor technician. “Comms, order Runoff flight to divert and intercept those torpedoes. Rear RCS to full, give us momentum.”
Roshal turned away from the bridge as affirmations were shouted, and the ship began to move, “Engineering, prepare to activate combat power on my mark and prepare for hard maneuvers. Mark in five.”
//////////
Griogill swallowed bile and tried not to feel too thankful that the enemy vessel had fired torpedoes at their home ship. Being diverted from an attack run had a much higher chance of survival than striking through an AA bubble.
“Runoff 4 engaging far torpedo. Moving in for intercept. Bre’kas, give me lock.”
Griogill’s backseater muttered something, and a target lock appeared on the far torpedo as Runoff 1, their previous Drill Sergeants, dashed by in a hard burn and blazed away at their own target.
“Right. We can do this. We can do this. No fear.” The rookie muttered as the sight of her friends in Runoff 3 being turned to vapor echoed in her mind. “I can do this.”
The target locked. She fired. The torpedo detonated.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Mark in four.”
//////////
The Heavy Cruiser loomed closer as the comparatively tiny Patrol Carrier spat its defiance in the form of two Interceptors dancing between the stars.
As a pair of torpedoes detonated, four more were launched, the anti-shipping weapons built for this specific purpose. Destroying disabled vessels.
And so the last two remaining Interceptors on CAP dove into the fray, risking themselves against an ever approaching AA bubble in order to save their ship.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Mark in three.”
//////////
All Cookie could do was stare and push his meager aerospace fighter further on its nuclear thrusters as shimmering dots of torpedoes lanced out from the Heavy Cruiser attacking his new home.
He pushed his hand forward and felt the throttle once more push back against him, the lever pushed all the way past safe thrust and into the further setting on his console.
The Interceptor was fast. It didn’t feel fast enough.
And so he spoke the words he spoke once before, back when he’d had to listen to his backseater’s screams of pain and the rush of wind after shrapnel pierced his fuselage, and the hospital was so, so far away.
Father, I pray that you will not hide your face from me. Whenever I pray, Lord please hear me and answer me speedily in Jesus' name. God, I pray that you will grant me speed through your help.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Mark in two.”
//////////
The Heavy Cruiser shifted, engine flaring and it began to close the range. A single disabled ship on emergency RCS thrusters and a pair of Aerospace fighters was nothing it would have to deal with.
It fired a third spread of torpedoes.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
They took the bait. Roshal thought with a vicious grin.
“Mark in one.” She paused, “Execute.”
In an instant, power flowed through the ship, emergency lights flickered off as the burning red boarding lights returned their fiery glow. The entire ship shook as the main thruster came back online, and capacitors began to charge for maneuvers.
“Hard burn, full thrusters, right, on my mark.” Roshal watched as the Heavy Cruiser began to react to her movements, the enemy ship was alive, you needed to roll to broadsides to begin bombardment, come on come on…
Roshal watched as a torpedo flickered out of existence, Runoff 4 gaining another kill.
Come on, dammit, you don’t get put in charge of a Heavy Cruiser without- THERE!
The Heavy Cruiser flinched, turning her bow away from the no longer stricken vessel, preparing for broadside.
The Captain’s grin showed more teeth than smile. “Execute! Full right thrust!”
“Full right thrust! Aye ma’am aye!” Her helmswoman called out as maneuvering thrusters dead cold roared to life and physically threw the vessel to the side, causing everyone not strapped in on the bridge to rock as a barrage of fire flew past their former location, manual targeting systems in play since the automatic systems would still be getting warmed up.
“Full thrust forward, prepare to divert all power to secondary weapons. Weapons, give me a firing solution.” Roshal commanded, hand raised and pointed at the enemy’s display as if she were commanding from a tall ship.
A chant of “Aye ma’am aye” flowed out across the bridge as the weaponsmistress was silent before calling out. “Port side is up to 45% secondary fires and 32% point defense. That’ll be our best bet.”
Roshal nodded. “Make it so. Target their main weapons. Helm, get us that facing.”
“Ma’am. We’re getting a call from Runoff 3. They are entering the AO and are asking for a target.”
Roshal smiled, “Weapons, shift target. Aim for the anti-aerospace systems. Let’s give Runoff 3 the opening they need.”
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Cookie, we’ve got a targeting path.” Milk called forward. “Putting it up on your HUD.”
“One second… I’ve got it. Moving to comply. Did the Captain give us a plan?” her front seater replied, causing her stomach to do funny things as the Aerospace Fighter maneuvered while under high thrust.
“Something like that. She asked for a munitions report and specifically about our anti-shipping weapon.”
Cookie paused.
“Ah.” He finally said.
“Yeah.” She replied.
“Well, let’s hope they’re able to open us up to a window of opportunity. Or this will be a short charge.”
“Not our place to question why.”
“Just our place to do and die.”
Time to target… three minutes.
Into the valley of Death, rode the six hundred.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
Two vessels, three Aerospace fighters, one chance.
Six minutes of power remained. All actors took their places on the stage.
One hundred kilometers, close enough to check the weld quality of hull seams, the two ships danced across from each other. Maneuvering.
Five minutes of power remained.
The Karcharidon Heavy Cruiser rolled itself trying to keep the vulnerable top deck away from the Patrol Carrier’s presumably still working main gun as Roshal’s vessel jumped to the side. Thrusters roared.
Four minutes of power remained.
Runoff 1 and 4 shot towards their formerly separated comrade, forming up behind them in a wedge. The trio climbed towards the sun as their captain continued to chase and harass the Karcharidon.
Three minutes of power remained.
Roshal spoke. The lances of her vessel fired. Laser blasts carved across the hull of the enemy ship as it rolled.
The rolling ceased. A helmswoman swore as a full broadside caught the Patrol Carrier in the flank. The port hangar pod was ruined, armor shattered and all inside exposed to hard vacuum. Those who could scream died the fastest. The Interceptors had their opening.
Two minutes of power remained.
Silent wings swept through vacuum as three Interceptors began their dive, their formerly speedy arrowhead shape giving way to an inverted t as their wings swept out for stability, the ASF dove and dove and dove.
Five Kilometers away.
The range was too wide. They had one shot. It had to be perfect.
One minute of power remained.
The Into Harm’s Way spat its defiance into the world, limited power drained to give her pilots a seconds more of time.
30 seconds of power remained.
Three Kilometers.
Hard Lock! Milk shouted from the back seat of Runoff 3. Cookie was silent. The range was still too wide.
15 seconds of power remained.
Two Kilometers.
The Karcharidon seemingly began to roll before the Patrol Carrier once more fired, its last remaining weapons spouting their defiance against the world. Deep in engineering, systems began to blow, wires that replaced fuses sparked power and delicate circuit boards shorted out into useless scrap.
The lights went out.
No power remained.
Roshal, in her head, began to count down as lances of light began to sweep across her ship. Damage control did what they could, but the beams began to cut like an overly enthusiastic shipbreaker.
Five.
One Kilometer.
Four.
Cookie’s thumb depressed the firing stud as the Interceptor screamed at him.
Three.
The ASF launched its deadly payload.
Two.
Three Interceptors pulled back hard on their sticks to avoid colliding with the deck.
One.
The thruster of the anti-shipping missile roared as it rocketed the point blank aerospace distance to target.
Impact.
The armor piercing tip of the missile punched into the upper deck plating of the Heavy Cruiser, classified alloys allowing it to pierce into the armored plating just enough to allow the shaped charge to open up a hole as momentum kept the weapon moving.
Within the frame of a single second, the warhead of the missile had entered the ship and, before the alarms even had time to sound, detonated.
A new sun appeared in the void for a split second as a plasma-fusion warhead detonated inside the Karcharidon heavy cruiser’s hull.
//////////
Roshal allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief inside her head as the emergency power lights flickered overhead and the gravity ever so slightly lightened. What was left of their sensor arrays showed the enemy vessel powering down. “Engineering. Good work, your 10 minutes were just what she needed.” She called out, picking up the ship phone.
There was no answer from engineering.
She signed externally before pointing at one of the marines guarding the bridge, “Find a crewmate in a void suit. I have need of runners.” The marine clasped a fist to her chest before leaving to execute her captain’s commands. “Comms, do we have any contact with the engineering teams on the pirate hulk?”
The Comms officer held up a hand, Roshal waited, “No, ma’am. We aren’t getting- wait. We’ve got visual on flashing lights from the hull. Apparently, something shorted, so they’re having to rebuild broadcast arrays. They can receive just fine, though.”
“Good, once we can maneuver, bring us broadside of them. What’s the status of the merchant fleet?”
Navigation spoke up now, “Still heading for the Jump Point. Should we send the recall order?”
“Not yet, we are still unsure if the area is safe. If we have any sensors remaining, begin sca-”
The mentioned sensor technician interrupted Captain Roshal, “Ma’am, new contact, signature unknown. Just jumped in from outside the starlane!”
“Give me details. Course, range, and speed?” She demanded.
“Signal confused, can’t get a lock!” Navigation called out, “Can’t tell if confusion’s from them or us.”
Not another one… Roshal sighed, “All forces prepa-”
“Ma’am, we’re being hailed.” Communications called out.
“On squawk.”
“This is Captain Al’yosha Cal’rada of Her Imperial Majesty’s Ship Spear of the Knyaginya, responding to Merchant vessel distress calls. Imperial Patrol Carrier, are you in need of assistance at this time?”
Roshal recognized the voice. A junior officer from her days in the Navy and a fellow Sevastutavan. The memory of the fresh faced girl when she’d joined her as an Ensign straight of the Naval Academy flashed before her eyes. “Captain Cal’rada. Your timing is impeccable as always.”
“Admiral?” Roshal could hear the shock in her old protege’s voice.
“That’s Captain, now, Al’yosha. I require your aid in ensuring the disabled vessel still glowing from an ASM strike remains disabled along with Search and Rescue teams for our sister Carrier.
“Whatever you want, you’ll have it, Admiral_… Helm! All ahead flank and plot course to intercept. Launch gunships and prepare to deploy Bluejackets. We’ll test our _Orcas’ teeth today!”
The line cut out a moment later than it should have, and Roshal nodded in approval.
“Captain, I still don’t have a read on new contact. What is it?” Sensors asked.
“A Drep’na inspired vision, come to life.” Roshal watched, feeling an odd sort of parental pride as Al’yosha’s experimental warship began closing the distance towards the Karcharidon at breakneck speeds. “A swift sailing vessel and ten carriage guns…” Roshal murmured the line from an old Vaasconian poem from the ancient Age of Sail. She had heard Cal’rada had succeeded in petitioning the Navy to build her dream-ship, burning every favor and passing out favors to any and everyone to see the program through. Now, there she was, standing on the bridge bearing down on a ship twice her size, but if the rumors were true, only half her guns.
“Ma’am, contact is still not resolving, but IFF confirms Imperial Navy designation. An Akula Class Attack Transport. I’ve… I’ve never even heard of this class.”
“Perhaps we shall hear of them more in the future. Fortune favors the active.”
“Contact is disgorging multiple signals, moving at speeds consistent with aerospace assets.”
“That is our signal we may disengage. Comms, inform the merchant fleet that the area is secure and to begin refueling procedures. Helm, get us alongside the pirate hulk, we have people to recover. Marine, get me a runner to the MP’s, we shall need the port hangar prepared for an old tradition the Navy has regarding pirate prisoners…” Roshal commanded. The fight was over, it was time to begin the cleanup.
//////////
So… that took a while. Sorry about that.
Turns out when a combination of writer’s block, decision paralysis and LIFE hits you over the head, it becomes a touch difficult to get your shit together long enough to write something down.
On the plus side, we are out of the “unplanned bits” and right back into the parts I have brainstormed, so I won’t be staring at a screen trying to think how to make things connect as much anymore. On the other hand, that means we are now entering the epilogue of book 1 of Top Lasgun.
Don’t worry, the story isn’t ending, I’ve got “three” books plotted out in my head, so we’ll see how that shakes out, but for the most part, this is where I start wrapping up plot threads, laying down threads for what comes next, and all that other good stuff.
So yeah, next chapter is going to involve everyone wrapping up what happened here, some fun little Military Justice, and potentially a bunch of plot. Also, I’m planning on starting a “rewrite”/edited version of this to go up on AO3, so keep an eye out for that. Early installment weirdness is a bitch and I’m not proud of what the older stuff looked like.
Well, I hope you have a wonderful morning, afternoon or evening whenever you read this and I will see you next chapter.
[NEXT CHAPTER]

Those out of sight should be kept in mind. Vegapunk's message might be for them.
In an arc where we get to see so many side characters and locations all at once, as opposed to our perspective being constrained to Luffy's location as is typically the case, those remaining few characters we do not see become more suspicious every chapter. I suspect the appearances of certain characters in this arc, and their reactions to its events, are potentially being saved for later because they'll be making the most interesting and immediately-relevant decisions following Vegapunk's broadcast.
Chapter 1114 - Stretchy Body
Chapter 1054 - The Average Perception of Luffy
Vegapunk talking about Nika and Joyboy's stretchy bodies is interesting because we can infer from the way people like Shanks' newer recruits speak of Luffy that the world is generally unaware of Luffy's basic abilities. Only those who know Luffy personally, allies he's helped directly and villains he's fought, would make the connection between him and this description of Nika and Joyboy.
Among those who know Luffy enough to make that connection, there are two characters that particularly stand out to me due to their absence from all the cutaways in this arc, and the specific ways in which their journey was shaped around Luffy's. Those characters are Carrot and Smoker.
So far, almost every arc in One Piece has been represented in the Egghead arc through the characters and locations we cut to. As of Chapter 1114, Zou is the only location the crew has visited in the New World from which we have not seen anyone at all.
Chapter 1056 - Carrot's Refusal
Zou's absence is made more suspicious by the way Wano ended with no follow-up on Carrot's refusal to become King, and no farewell to her and her people. Would showing the Minks, those who introduce us to the "Dawn of the World", answer something Oda aims to hide for now? I believe so...
Chapter 1056 - Inherited Will
Chapter 877 - The Dawn of the World
…Because the questions Carrot should be asking herself in her last appearance could begin to be answered in Vegapunk's message. Carrot is made to reflect upon Pedro's will, which should involve reflecting upon his final words to her. Words like "Luffy" ("He fought with a body that stretched and contracted"), "awaited for centuries" ("From about 900 years ago...") and "Dawn" ("Like the Sun God").
Chapter 877 - Powers Like Luffy's
Chapter 877 - The True Importance of Luffy
"One day you will understand"
Is today the day?
Is Carrot listening to the broadcast somewhere and about to make a big decision? Or will the broadcast validate a decision that has already been made? Either way, given that the contents of Vegapunk's message are already quite relevant to the questions Carrot would've been asking herself at the end of Wano, I can see how the events of Egghead up until the broadcast can serve as a bridge between Carrot's confused last appearance, and a return to the manga with her being more resolute.
Chapter 858 - Nami and Carrot Hear About Elbaf
Even the mention of Nika being a legend in Elbaf is relevant here, as Carrot has expressed an interest in Giants which, given her love of adventure, likely extends to their home of Elbaf where she could actually see them. I would be surprised if Nami and Carrot getting the Elbaf lore drop had no utility beyond the WCI arc. As one of the smart and rational people on the crew, the info from Chiffon will likely be useful to Nami during Elbaf itself. But for Carrot, Vegapunk's message should make her even more interested in going to the home of Giants, as it connects Elbaf to the greater "importance" of Luffy that Pedro suggested.
I think Vegapunk's broadcast gives us an actual narrative reason for Carrot to return soon, as it is relevant to how her last scene played out. It's now easier to see a potential return scene in clearer detail than "and thus Carrot came back like she kinda had to cause that last scene was so odd." There's an actual through line to think about now.
Chapter 793 - Smoker's Last Appearance
Chapter 793 - Smoker Heads to Vegapunk
As for Smoker, his absence from the Egghead arc is also very suspicious, not because his last appearance was weird, but because the last time we saw him (after the defeat of Doflamingo), he was on his way to Vegapunk's lab. Thus him not appearing yet in the arc about Vegapunk raises some questions.
Chapter 1061 - Tashigi Returns
His absence is made more suspicious by Tashigi, the partner he always appears with, being among the many characters we see outside Egghead. Where is Smoker if not with Vegapunk? Where is Smoker if not with Tashigi? Why isn't he among the many, many Marines we've already seen?
Chapter 99 - He Laughed
Chapter 99 - The True Importance of Luffy
I suspect we'll get the answers with Vegapunk's broadcast. Because Smoker isn't just someone who should make the connection between Luffy and Joyboy, he's someone who has already gotten the feeling Luffy was meant to be an important figure in this world. This began a fascination with Luffy that has defined Smoker's journey.
Chapter 100 - The Legend Begins with Smoker Following Luffy to the Grand Line
Chapter 439 - Smoker Figures Luffy is Off to the New World and Follows Him There
Chapter 670 - Visions of Defeat
It is important to remember that Smoker doesn't just happen to be in the New World right now, nor did he simply happen to enter the Grand Line many years ago. He entered the Grand Line due to Luffy, and he entered the New World due to Luffy. His journey has run parallel to Luffy's and White Chase Smoker has been chasing the Warrior in White this entire time. Thus it seems fair to expect the next step of his story to be tied to Luffy as well. Even a fight has been set up between them, likely a quick one...
Chapter 579 - Justice
Chapter 699 - Kuzan
Smoker is someone who has already questioned the World Government's vision of justice multiple times. He follows his own sense of justice even when it doesn't align with those above him, which has led to him working with Luffy on a few occasions. Now he's likely learning that the smartest man in the world, who he was with recently, is dead, possibly due to the World Government, through the broadcast of information that the WG definitely does not want to be public. With Kuzan basically telling him that one can stay true to what drove them to join the Marines while staying independent, Vegapunk's incomplete message about the Void Century and its Luffy-like figure may be the catalyst to Smoker deciding to go to Luffy and eventually find out the truth. Because if he followed Luffy into the Grand Line and into the New World, he might as well follow him to the end.
The longer Carrot and Smoker remain unseen in an arc where we get to see almost everyone, as a message plays worldwide that address topics they've been thinking about, the more suspicious it becomes, and the more likely they are to make some of the most important and interesting decisions in the aftermath of the broadcast.
Thank you for reading.
Edit: Typo

Hey Node enthusiasts! Let me share an idea I've been knocking about for a couple of days to find out if there is any bite.
The concept is Socket.io namespaces/rooms as a service. Rather than having to think about deploying your own servers, state management stores, message brokers, load balancing etc. the offering would provide all this out of the box.
In a nutshell, i could see this working as follows...
A potential user would be provided an auth key and install a library. Consumers would connect via wss:// to the hosted servers. Your backend would broadcast messages which would then be dispatched to interested parties. No Express style session management required as the broker would be configured to use direct queues, with bindings per room.
A penny for your thoughts at this very early stage?

Hello everyone at UTD! I have graduated and have been a member of RadioUTD for a quarter of my time here (one year). I would like to describe what it was like working as a DJ in RadioUTD. I am not here to paint a pretty picture.
There are a few aspects that benefited me. It let me know what it was like to work and have responsibilities. It let me know how to talk about music and how to arrange playlists. It taught me how to be more punctual to be on time for my set. Since you cannot swear on broadcast, I being a dirty mouth learned how to express myself when I need to quit yapping foully. This was multiplied thirteenfold as I had around 13 sets in the course of my time there. I also learned to market myself on my own, though I don't think I was very successful. I really have no way to tell. I also learned how to mix music with a DJ controller. It was a very supportive group I found, and although I am still rather bad at music mixing, I have had some good moments. I also got to play in the DJ fest where all the other DJs could listen.
But there are a few things that prevented me from signing up at the get go. My family never really liked my taste in music, and always ridiculed me for it. In the campus tour RadioUTD was mentioned, but we walked into the student union, and top 40 music was playing, I did not realize it at the time but I assumed that that was RadioUTD's music stream. Seeing the DJ work with his back to the glasswall headbanging, that glass wall kind of made him look like he was doing some awesome mix but I just couldn't hear it, and that I wasn't allowed to go in that room.
The only thing that urged me to sign up was Marco Fxxxxxx, (he was featured in Mercury). I heard there was a DJ festival and listened through his set and thought maybe RadioUTD was cool and worth doing a shot.
The last thing I'd like to say is that RadioUTD is weak. What do I mean by that? Mercury and AMP make their opinions, print it, and distribute it on receptacles across campus. To access RadioUTD, you must search up the website, then go to the streaming site, then be at the right time for someone to speak. The website is mentioned nowhere. It would be preferable if there was a QR sticker on each of the AMP/Mercury receptacles for UTD TV and RadioUTD to get atleast some mention that it exists. This is not a radical idea and quite simple to implement.
But for RadioUTD to be truly as strong? Have speakers around campus that play the streams. Put up posters promoting RadioUTD (They don't do that). Make the DJ booth face the window and make the window weak so that the DJ can actually talk with passersby. There is no way to tell who is listening, and how many people are listening, which leads to us not putting as much effort in our playlists or talking breaks as we'd like. We have something called boothing, where we book out the plinth to play music for an hour or two 3 times a month. The chance of someone who wants to hear this passes by is so incredibly low. Since the plinth stage has to be checked out in advance, it is a gridlock of what is possible. It is a shame to see people outside of UTD on the plinth asking you to register to vote almost every day but almost never see my organization out there playing music for the people. I was told that there was boothing opportunities available for the finals scream, but it was cancelled. Our organization tends to defer out of anything that doesn't seem safe and as a result it makes us even more unknown. The DJ Fest aforementioned was not promoted and almost got canceled. As a result everyone except Marco who was closing the set, had basically no audience outside of RadioUTD.
I know this will never happen, and as a result, few people will actually apply to make a change, and as a result of that, RadioUTD will remain relatively obscure. I hope this post wakes up people within RadioUTD and drives them to make a change, and also inspire others to join RadioUTD. If anyone is from RadioUTD and I am making any errata, feel free to correct me in the comments below. I'd like a discussion.
Also if y'all got any cool songs please message them to me or drop 'em in the comments too!

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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If you made it this far, Thank You! I hope you enjoyed the episode. If this if your first time seeing this series, I hope you will join us from the beginning. I do have a patreon that has extra content that is not main story arc, but still cannon shorts, as well as exclusive content from some of my other series. If you believe I've earned it, feel free to give it a look; but know that just coming to hang is already enough.
Have a wonderful rest of your day.
First, Previous, Next Patreon

See Previous Day 3 Here
See Following Day 5 Here
Yesterday had some fun interactions and gambling with Chinchiro, BUT it also had plot, murder, framing, and an intense court session ala Ace Attorney. Today however the main idea will be to take the girls into the Nether. More deaths are predicted to occur now that the stakes have risen. Best of luck!
We're posting now, due to Aqua streaming at JP lunchtime, but later at primetime JST we'll get some new folks joining like Kiara, Lui, Suisei and Aki! There's also a trial planned for Ririka who died yesterday late into the night. (Fauna also said she'll be joining but that wont be until the early mornings of Day 5)
General Rules for the server. Written by Pekora in the rulebook, with some edits:

• If you die, its over (Note: There is a way to come back after your first death, see below)
• I will write a diary after the broadcast
• Complete the mission
• Nether opening starts on the 16th
• The ultimate goal is to defeat Endora (Ender Dragon) and Wither
• About Survival Diary
  • Write about the events and memories of the day
  • If the content is good, good things might happen
  • Penalty will be incurred if there is no diary
• There are nether and recreational facilities
  • Nether opening date 5/16 JST
  • Recreational facilities 5/15 JST (Chinchiro)
• You are free!
• You may build a residence
• You can equip yourself
• Survive.

Some additional rules were added:

• Pekora says there will no longer be a trial system if you die after today. Instead if you die you may choose to be revived (however you will have to go and collect 7 diamonds on your own in a solo world within 30 minutes before it can be done).
• Members won't be able to be revived after Day 7
• The server needs 2/3 of its online players sleeping for time to pass to the next morning.

There are also missions for the server. There are two types: Global and Daily
Global Missions:

• Find a Western Style Mansion in the forest (basically find a Woodland Mansion) - 20 Diamonds
• Find a Jungle Temple - 20 Diamonds
• Find a Pillager Outpost - 5 Diamonds
• Obtain a Trident - 30 Diamonds
• Find Ruins (Most likely meaning Trail Ruins) - 20 Diamonds
• Find a Pyramid - 10 Diamonds
• Find an Ancient City - 20 Diamonds
• Defeat the Boss of an Underwater Temple (This most likely means the Elder Guardians at an Ocean Monument) - 100 Diamonds
• Obtain 10 different dye colors - Diamond amount unknown

Today's Daily Missions:

• Go to the nether and get soul sand - 3 Diamonds
• Go and collect frog eggs with someone you never interacted with - 10 Diamonds
• Defeat a Ghast - 5 Diamonds
• Create a Potion - 5 Diamonds
• Obtain a Glowstone - 3 Diamonds
• Obtain a distorted mushroom - 2 Diamonds
• Defeat 3 Skeletons - 5 Diamonds
• Become the first person/group to discover a Nether Fortress - 30 Diamonds (Only given to the first group who discovers it)

Streams:

• Aqua (VOD)
  • Aqua's 2nd Stream
• Nene (VOD)
  • Nene's 2nd Stream (VOD)
• Koyori
• Lui (with Botan, Aki, and Suisei) (VOD)
• Botan (VOD)
• Aki (VOD)
• Suisei (VOD)
• Kiara (VOD)
• Ina (VOD)
• Noel (VOD)
• Pekora's News Stream (VOD)
• Subaru (VOD)
• Hajime (VOD)
• Polka (VOD)
• Ao (VOD)
• Lamy (VOD)
• Anya (VOD)
• Miko (VOD)
• Towa (VOD)
• Kaela (VOD)
• Luna (VOD)
• Watame (VOD)
• Haachama (VOD)
• Kanade (VOD)

Members who played today but are not streaming:

• Iroha
• Kanata

General Notes:

• Aqua plans on building the TTT (Tenku Trap Tower) during her stream today. TTT is planned to be located in the middle of the ocean. Nearby the shore is a ruined Nether Portal, next to a bamboo Jungle and nearby is a dark oak forest (this is about 1k blocks away from the city).
  • Subaru and Nene will also be helped out in construction today too.
• During the stream, Aqua died. Pekora revived her so she can finish TTT, she will hold a trial for her later.
• Subaru showed up to help Aqua. Subaru punches Aqua while she is standing close to the edge of the sky platform and is almost knocked off. Aqua punches Subaru who is standing close to the edge of the sky platform and falls off with a nicely cut scream. Subaru climbs back up to the platform and after a brief exchange of words gets punched off again.
• Ina after making her plan went online and Pekora was next to her. She make a cute and funny noise which got Pekora's attention. Pekora went into the Chinchiro place so she wouldn't be disturbed.
• Many members are working hard today to prepare for their nether trip, along with working on missions for the day.
• Kiara doing some mining and got scared by a creeper, but was able to shoot it down before it blew up. She also shot down a skeleton (there was much screaming)
• Subaru took Ao to the newly finished TTT for Ao to get EXP.
• Suisei, Lui, Botan, Ririka, Azki, and Hajime went to Kaela's Trader Village to get enchantments for their weapons and armor. They're all pretty impressed by it.
• Ina is meanwhile, fishing. She caught a pufferfish, named it Fugua, and placed it above her door in her house.
• Nene, Noel, and Aqua go on a little adventure together. Its to the TTT. They're gonna repair the ruined portal that is there, and use it as an easy connection from Spawnpoint to TTT.
• Pekora will be hosting a raid at 21:00. It'll be held at the trading post. (see below)
• Miko has joined! Various members came to give her greetings.
• Anya is at the spawnpoint area and is currently translating today's missions on the board into English.
• Due to some bug, at the TTT area, the members there have bald heads: Aqua, Noel, and Lamy
  • The 3 went to spawn point and showed their bald heads to the other girls who were there. Everyone laughed. Kiara figured out how the bald head worked. Its a toggle in your settings to turn on and off hair. Soon everyone is now bald.
• For Koyori and Polka to get revived, they are to get 7 diamonds in 30 minutes in their own solo servers.
  • Both Koyori and Polka were able to find diamonds before the 30 minute mark was up, so they got revived.
• Haachama has joined the server! Watame sends her a welcome message in the in-game chat. She now met up with the other members who recently exited the nether.
• Thanks to Kaela and Iroha's villager markets, various members are now able to get better diamond gear, weapons, and tools; along with book enchantments to improve those items!
• Meanwhile Watame and Azki are in the ice biome collecting ice blocks together.
  • Azki asked her to make a pick with silk touch so she could go gather ice blocks and Watame thought Azki wanted the pickaxe so she named it "Azki". Watame and then was embarrassed when Azki threw it back to her and explained it was for Watame, and the Azki gave Watame a full explanation of the Shuba/Nene incident that happened yesterday.
  • Afterwards, Azki and Watame went to help Iroha with her 2nd Iron Farm. They worked to help make an ice road from Iroha's First Iron Farm to her 2nd Iron Farm
• Luna and Polka are on an adventure together now! They went to TTT, and also are exploring the Nether to complete misisons.
• Kiara, Miko, Kaela, Anya, Koyori, Kanade come back home and sees that Pekora has been busy making a big arena. Kiara goes to investigate and sees Pekora building for tomorrow, which will probably be for tomorrow's event.
• Miko went to find Watame in her house and the two played Janken together.
• Miko, Kiara, Kaela, Koyori, and Anya made a fire resist potion together for another mission.
• Haachama now being revived asks Kaela to show her house. As theyre walking Kaela offers the village next to her a place for Haachama to live. And then it was night time so a bunch of monsters showed up. Fortunately Kaela is there to protect Haachama.
• Nene came by and gave some armor to Haachama for her to use. Haachama and Kaela will go to the Nether to help Haachama complete the missions for today (since she did die in the middle of the group's adventure). Haachama got the "Hot Tourist Destination" achievement
  • Haachama died in the nether again. A ghast hit Haachama, breaking a block which poured lava on top of her. She was unable to get out and died from the lava. She ended her stream a bit after talking to Kaela, at least she had fun today.
• Anya wrote in her diary today: #NeverForgiveTheButas (for Subaru dying)
• Nenechi off stream died! She went to stock up on iron but in the process she dozed off, then got shot by a skeleton and died. (as said on twitter). She notes that they're no longer low on iron, its paid for with Nene's life!

Notes about the Trials

• Kiara and Ina are both providing translations for what's being said for their streams, so take a listen to know whats happening.
• Ririka's Trial is first. Azki is her Lawyer, Pekora is Judge, Hajime is Prosecuter.
• According to Kiara, Azki is speaking in Lawyer Japanese making it hard to translate
• Ririka's Trial results: She will be revived!
• Next is Aqua's trial. Subaru and Nene will be her lawyers. Pekora is also judge.
• During Aqua's trial, Pekora asked if there were things Aqua has done that has troubled people. People have listed her crimes including pushing people into holes and burning people.
• Aqua's Trial Results: She'll get revived but there will be a punishment. She has to help Pekora with whatever she asks for, and she must help others repay in kindness.

Notes about The Nether:

• Nenechi is the first one to enter the nether. Koyori and Nenechi are making a wall around the nether gate for protection
• Despite the Nether being opened, most members are actually busy making preparations for the nether. Only Koyori really the one exploring the Nether right now.
• Koyori while exploring found a crimson forest. She's working on making a path so traversal is safe.
• A 2nd Nether Portal was made by TTT so there is a faster way to travel from spawnpoint.
  • When Noel entered this Portal, a ghast immediately started shooting at her, Shortly Aqua and Nene came and did their best to defeat the ghast. Thanks to Aqua shooting back the fireballs the ghast threw, it was defeated. They then proceeded to make a wall around this new nether gate for safety, along with placing torches, and putting a wall (Aqua says Wall Maria) around a pool of lava
• After the raid, a bunch of the girls are now going into the nether to TTT. A few like Aqua, Noel, Lamy and Koyori are exploring.
• Suisei, Lui, Botan, and Aki are busy exploring and checking out the nether.
  • During their travels, they came across a ghast. They were able to take it down (and doing it while building a long bridge across the Nether.
  • The group found a Bastion. They got the achievement for it so it too!
  • Suisei had to leave, but the rest are busy exploring the bastion.
  • Lui died!! She was in the bastion when she was killed by a pig brute (they are dangerous). It is unknown if she will also be revived.
    • It seems like Lui only intends to play today. So its unlikely she will ask to be revived.
• Another nether group: Kiara, Ina, Anya, Miko, Ao, Aqua, Subaru
  • They went and got glowstone, though since Miko is mining it and she doesn't have a silktouch, it became glowstone sand (but that can be crafted). As Miko was getting down from the glowstone, she fell off but landed with 2 hearts remaining.
  • Due to some lag, Aqua accidentally pushed Ina down a bit. Fortunately shes fine and they were able to get her back up
  • The group were able to complete lots of missions together including: Getting soul sand, getting glowstone, getting mushrooms
  • Aqua left the group to meet up with Towa who had just joined the server.
  • The group somehow split into 2: Kiara, Ina, Miko; and Anya, Subaru, Ao
    • Miko got split up with the group, and after a bit, Kiara and Ina went to get and find her again.
  • After some wandering, the two groups have now reunited!
  • Subaru died! As they were heading back, a Pig attacked the group, as they were trying to kill it, Subaru got knocked off and fell into the lava and died
    • Anya explaining that since Subaru already died yesterday, she most likely will not get revived again.
    • Anya, Kiara and Ina keep saying how "it should've been me"
    • The group created a grave for Subaru next to Koyori's grave which is near the nether.
• Koyori died in the nether! She was with Lamy and Luna exploring when she got burned (didn't see but most likely due to falling in lava). While she was able to get out, she wasn't able to stop burning, and couldn't heal back up in time, dying due to burning to death.
  • Pekora came to ask if Koyori wants to be revived. Koyori says she doesn't want her wife (Lamy) to be left a widow. Pekora says that Koyori will have to take a punishment if she wants to be revived (Kiara translates as Pekora is giving Koyori a hard time). Koyori has to get seven diamonds on her own in 30 minutes.
  • Nenechi created a grave next to the portal for Koyori
• Aqua, Noel, and Towa became a group exploring the nether. The 3 reached a bastion together and got the achievement.
  • Noel had to leave, so now Aqua and Towa are exploring together. Botan and Suisei tagged along with them.
  • Suisei nearly died in the bastion so Botan, Towa, and Aqua are trying to rescue her. EDIT: While they were able to rescue Suisei, on the way back they got attacked by a Ghast. The Ghast hit Suisei who fell into lava and died. Aqua and crew built a grave at the area.
  • Botan also nearly died in the same spot that Suisei had died in.
• A new group was formed consisting of Kiara, Kaela, Miko, Anya, and Koyori, Kanade and Haachama
  • Going to TTT was so they can complete the 3 skeleton mission easily.
  • They're also taking commemoration pictures at the death bed of Aqua (who died at TTT)
  • Before actually going to the nether, the girls want to go to Kaela's place to get Infinity from her for their bows, along with other enchantments. Miko named her newly formed bow "JDON MY BOW"
  • After much travelling and meandering the entire group arrived into the nether.
  • Haachama died! As they were travelling through they came across a ledge that haven't been blocked off yet. Haachama tried to jump over it but fell down and died in the lava.
  • Kaela got burned by the lava but was able to survive.
  • The gang found a nether fortress. They are currently exploring it defeating Blazes and Wither Skeletons. After fighting and getting blaze rods, they make the return trip to the city.
  • The entire gang got "Hot Tourist Destination" achievement for exploring all the nether biomes (during their travel back they ended up passing through the Warped Forest which triggered it). They also used the opportunity to get some mushrooms in the Warped Forest.
  • The gang were able to get back home safely. They got a nice picture taken too!

Notes about the Pillager Raid

• There's a pillager raid at Iroha's Tradiing Post. They have called all hands on deck to helped out. Ririka also sent a message in english
• Current members partaking are almost everyone who is streaming.
• Some members are making towers and posts to get a good vantage point and shoot the pillagers. Like Kiara and Suisei, and Ina
• Various members also made iron golems to help out
• Nenechi planted flowers around the pillager raid area.
• At the final wave, Polka died due to a Vex that attacked. It was the only casualty. She died on the battlefield.
  • A grave for Polka was made
  • After they all took a picture... except for Kiara... who just went to get iron... (also Lamy and Miko were not there)
  • Polka notes shes fine with this and has accepted her death. She did say if everyone wanted her to come back that also be fine, but since a grave was made, Polka will not be revived.

Death Lists for today:

• Aqua - Died due to falling down TTT - got revived by Pekora to do her work
• Polka - Died from a Vex while partaking in a pillager raid - got revived after collecting 7 diamonds in 30 minutes
• Koyori - Died due to burning while in the nether - got revived after collecting 7 diamonds in 30 minutes. Edit: Koyori found 13 diamonds in 27 minutes
• Lui - Died to a Piglin Brute - She only planned to play for today, so she will not be revived.
• Subaru - Died due to falling into lava in the nether - No revival planned (will figure out about how to distribute her diamonds)
• Suisei - Happened off stream. She got hit by a ghast on the bridge and fell into lava - Apparently she'll do the batsu of getting 7 diamonds on a solo server in 30 minutes off screen to be revived. EDIT: Suisei tried to do the batsu but she wasn't able to complete it. She'll still keep on trying and we'll see if she can come back or not.
• Haachama - Died by trying to jump over a ledge, and fell into lava - Pekora says she can be revived after going to a solo server and getting 7 diamonds in 30 minutes. EDIT: Haachama is still trying to get the diamonds even though its been over 30 minutes. Haachama was able to return to the server again.
• Haachama - Died from a ghast hitting a block which broke and poured lava on top of Haachama (died due to lava). - No revival planned
• Nene - Died from being shot by a skeleton when she dozed off getting iron. (Off stream) - No revival planned

It should be noted that both Suisei, Haachama and Botan fell in the same lava spot. Suisei fell there once and thanks to slow falling boots survived on 2 hearts (this is unrelated to where she died). Botan also survived, however Haachama didn't.

The Terran Union Heavy Cruiser, Roanoke, had spent the last 6 months raiding Naalx supply lines in the Flores sector.
They were finally returning to Terran Space for some much-needed refit and some R&R. But first, they were stopping at the Bateri space station orbiting Emsar IV.
She would be meeting a Terran Union squadron to escort her prizes back to the Couster system. 4 freighters, a massive ore hauler, and a damaged Naalx corvette that answered a distress call sooner than expected.
The Roanoke was one of the new Grenville class heavy cruisers, faster and more heavily armed than the other heavy cruiser classes operating as part of a Terran Union fleet.
They were designed as solo raiders able to operate deep in enemy space, raiding enemy supply lines and facilities.
Their design included several newly developed systems, including a new style of radiator for dumping excess heat.
At 500 m long and painted black as night, she was very intimidating to see on visual screens and even more so at close range. Her CrCoNi (chromium, cobalt, and nickel) hull was covered in 12” of ablative armor covered in a black laser-resistant material able to reduce the effectiveness of enemy sensors and target locks.
The experimental Baxter radiators efficiently released excess heat into space but still left them exposed to radiation detection sensors.
Captain Josef Král had been hand-picked to command the Roanoke when she came into service 18 months ago. He was a popular officer with 20 years of combat experience on just about every ship in the Terran Union’s navy.

He’d also provided technical assistance during its design phase so his familiarity with the ship made him the best choice for putting the ship through her paces. This would be the very first voyage behind enemy lines as a raider.
And it’d been a rousing success, hitting targets deep in Naalx space as reprisal for Naalxian raids on Terran border colonies. The First Naalx-Terran war had devastated both species and left them vulnerable to outside forces. The war wasn’t won so much as winding down to a series of raids and counter-raiding. A gentleman’s agreement to prevent raids and border skirmishes from turning into another full-scale war and the earlier consequences.
And Captain Král was very good at approaching that line in the sand without going over it. Several centuries earlier he’d have been a Privateer sailing the oceans on Earth.
This even led to the revival of the old pirate movies of the 20th century but Captain Král preferred likening it to the submarine warfare of the first half of the 20th century. That didn’t stop his crew from giving him a robot parrot.
He claims to hate it but everyone knows he’s been teaching it his extensive vocabulary of curse words, in dozens of languages, that he loved it.
And if you call him out on him walking around with it on his shoulder, he’ll claim he was just humoring the crew.
Captain Král was relieved to see the Terran squadron had arrived before him and ordered his little fleet to dock. It would be good to be able to get off the ship and move around without weapons.
As Captain Král exited the ship, he was surprised to see Commodore Allen waiting for him. It’d been several years since he last saw his friend and previous XO. Taking his prerogative as a Captain, he skipped the formalities, shook hands, and gave Commodore Allen a friendly slap on the back.
“Mike? What the hell are you doing here? This is escort job is for a Lt. to do” He asked
“I was in the neighborhood and volunteered. I wanted to see this new ship of yours and it’s been too long since we got a drink together.” Mike replied
Captain Král took a glance back to his ship and wasn’t surprised to see his current XO, Lt. Commander Nana Ricci had the resupply well in hand.
With a big grin, Captain Král said, “Let me see to my guests and we can see if we can scandalize the ratings like we used to.”
Captain Král approached the waiting station manager. The Bateri bowed in the formal greeting of her people. Not having the tentacles needed to return the bow, he just saluted her.
“Greetings Captain Král of the Terrans, how may we be of service?” The Bateri asked.
“Greetings Ananu of the Bateri. We request the use of your services,” he replied, finishing the ritual greeting.
“I see you returned successful in your raiding,” Ananu said, “How many bunks will you need?”
Unsurprised that the Bateri knew his mission, he replied “ 72 bunks with 3 more for your med bay, if you have the room.”
One of the most important functions provided by the Bateri was allowing for the return of captives taken in raids. This helped to keep things calmer by freely releasing captives to limit the amount of bad blood created during the raids and conflicts.
Crates of supplies, ammo, missiles, and the various other things needed to keep the ship functioning were being transferred from the smaller Terran ships. With her weapon complement being only slightly smaller than a battleship, she could go through a lot of ammunition. Even without being in serious combat, he liked to run frequent gunnery drills. Some Captains would just let their tactical computers handle operating the weapon systems and just have the gunnery crews handle reloads. But some hard lessons taught him that having the gunnery crews able to take direct control, as needed, was essential. He preferred to use up as much ammunition as needed during training to save lives later in combat.
Seeing everything in hand, he walked back to join his friend for a drink. They caught up on the doings of old friends and Mike’s family, toasts to fallen comrades, and eventually to the Roanoke.
‘How did she operate on her first long-range mission?” Mike asked
Taking a moment to organize his thoughts, Captain Král took a sip of his drink. “She handled better than expected. The new engine behaved itself, surprising for being just off the drawing board, the Baxters were damn efficient.”
Taking another sip before continuing, “ We didn’t use the torpedoes or the turreted railguns in combat but the rest performed as expected. That Corvette didn’t stand a chance so we didn’t get a full test of all the combat systems.”
“Going by the number of munitions I brought with me, you’d think I was resupplying a battleship” Mike joked
“Just about,” Captain Král chuckled. “During the design phase, I had to argue for such an increase of armament.” “It seemed to take forever for them to get it through their thick skulls that we’d be out there all alone and couldn’t call for reinforcements.” “So I convinced them to put the 2 particle beam systems in the bow of the ship and give me the 4 torpedo tubes. They had no problem with the pair at the bow but they couldn’t figure out why I wanted a pair aft. I swear I thought about launching them out of a tube.”

“At least they were starting to get it when I up-gunned the turrets to carry two large railguns. They did get upset at wanting to put on a turret in the middle of the ventral side but were relieved I left the other turret on the dorsal side ahead of the command structures”
Commodore Allen asked,” From the glimpse I got as you docked, it looked like you doubled the usual weapon systems?”
“She still has them 10 secondary batteries but I went with dual medium railguns for them” Captain Král replied, “ I put 4 of the quad-mounted autocannons on each side of the ship.”
“ It should let us save wear and tear on the railguns when we catch unarmed ships or against incoming fighters.”
“ I understand and it also saves on missiles, which with 4 heavy and 8 medium is a lot of missiles to carry.” Commodore Allen replied.
“I’ve also heard you were running tests on a more powerful deflector array to do more than just protect against radiation and small debris. Like maybe actual shields that would work on anything smaller than a battleship?”
“Yeah but not with any success,” Captain Král answered, “Anytime we tried to go past the standard low-power output, it played hell with our sensors.”
It was at that moment when Captain Král’s wrist communicator beeped for his attention.
“Just a second Mike,” he said as he keyed the communicator. “ Král, go ahead”
The sound of Lt. Commander Ricci’s voice came through the speaker, “ Priority message from the bridge Captain.”
“ What is the message?” Captain Král asked, not liking the way Ricci’s voice sounded worried
“ Sensor buoy reports large Naalx fleet dropping out of FTL, 2 million km out,” Ricci reported
Commodore Allen gave Captain Král the same concerned look that he was sure was on his face. “How many?” The captain asked
Ricci hesitated for a moment before answering “37 ships with more arriving every couple of minutes.”
Commodore Allen swore
Captain Král looked at his friend, “How long until you get your crews and get out of here?”
Commodore Allen thought for a moment, “ Maybe 20 minutes at the minimum.”
Captain Král muttered to himself, “They’ll be here before that.”
Both men got up, signaled to any of their personnel in the bar, and started out the door. “I’ll buy you the time but I’ll need to undock as soon as I get aboard my ship, maybe I can catch them off-guard. “ Captain Král
Commodore Allen replied, “That’s a suicide mission, there are too many for one ship to handle”
“Yeah, I know, old friend but if I don’t then we all die.” Captain Král explained, “ Do me a favor, I’m going to send you my non-essential personnel, take them and those still on the station with you. Get them home.”
Reaching the hatch to the docking bay, both men stopped to shake hands. “Of course, Josef.” Commodore Allen replied, “But if anyone can find a way out of it, it’s you, my friend.”
After a final salute, both men parted ways to reach their ship. As Captain Král jogged down the docking bay, he sent orders for Ricci to send all non-essential personnel to Commodore Allen and asked if they had sufficient hands to man all combat stations.
Ricci’s reply reassured him, “ Aye Sir, most of the crew on the station are from the 2nd watch, and the few people from the first watch are non-essential.”
“Be ready to launch as soon as I get aboard.” He ordered.
He passed several members of his crew, en route to join Commodore Allen. He stopped to return their salute. At the disappointed look in their eyes, he told them. “I know you don’t want to leave the ship but the Commodore needs some real sailors to get out on time. You know how those logistic guys are. They’ll get lost trying to find their own bridge”
That look reassured them and after a final salute, they headed down the dock to join Commodore Allen
Captain Král reached the cargo ramp and started up it, calling Ricci and telling her to shove off and he’d be on the bridge shortly.
He sprinted down the corridor, leaping over the lower lips of the vacuum-tight doors.
“Captain on the Bridge!” rang out from one of the bridge techs. Aside from the guards and his XO, the rest of the bridge crew kept working. Nodding his approval at their knowing when to discard ceremony for action. He walked over toward his console before speaking.
“What do we have, Lt. Commander?”
Turning to face him, Captain Král could see just how worried she was. “Current count is 48 ships.” Touching the console’s keys to bring up a list of ships before continuing, “ 18 capital ships and a mix of sub-caps, still trying to ID them.”
“They’re just maintaining position for now.” Ricci finished, her voice slightly puzzled.
“They’re waiting for something or someone,” Captain Král answered the unasked question.
“How many crew did we leave behind?”
“641, Sir” the XO replied
“ Helm, are we clear of the station's shielding?”
“Almost Sir,” The helmsman answered.
“Thank you.” Captain Král returned.
Turning to another tech, he said, “Sound Battlestations”

“Sir,” one of his sensor techs spoke up, “We have 2 more ships arriving.”
“ Thank you, Ensign.” Captain Král returned
“What class are they?” Lt Commander Ricci asked
After looking at her monitor again the tech replied, “1 heavy cruiser and something much bigger, waiting for the computer to ID it.”
Captain Král moved to look over the tech’s shoulder before standing up and facing his XO.
“Fleet Command Ship” he informed the tech and his XO.
Lt. Commander Ricci replied, “What the hell is one doing out here?”
“Good Question.” he answered, “And now that the players are on the field, the game can begin.”
Bringing up the sensor information to his console, Captain Král pointed at the enemy fleet. “They haven’t begun to deploy into battle formation yet.”
“That could be our chance.” Raising his head to look at his XO. “If we jump now we can land close and surprise them. After we land, we drive into the center of their formation and head for that big bastard.” He explained
“But Sir, We haven’t fully tested the jump drive!” the XO exclaimed
“No time like the present, “ Captain Král joked

“We’ll let the railguns and autocannon crews pick targets of opportunity, while we engage the command ship with our particle cannons, heavy railguns, and torpedoes,” he stated
“What about its point defense system, won’t it pick off the torps?” the XO asked
“We’re going to launch all the Hammerheads at it. It should overwhelm the system and let the torps through.” He answered before continuing, “I’m going to save the heavy missiles for now.”
“You’ll need to calculate the launch time of the Hammerheads to hit the point defense system as close to the time for the torpedoes to sneak through.” he ordered, “ But not so far they take out the Hammerheads too soon and let them hit the torps but not so close they set them off either.”
Looking at his XO, “You better get down to tactical Nana, this is going to get ugly, and it’s best we split up.” Captain Král commanded
Exchanging salutes, Ricci simply replied “Aye Sir.” and started for the hatch. Just before stepping through, she turned and said, “Good Luck, Sir.
“What’s the status of the Commodore’s squad?” Captain Král asked
One of his communication techs spoke up, “ They need 10 more minutes”
“Let me know the minute they are clear.” Captain Král ordered
Captain Král turned to comms tech and ordered, “Intraship comms if you please ensign”
“Aye sir” the tech replied before turning to his console and speaking into the mic,” Now hear this, Now hear this. Message from the Captain.”
“ Well folks, this isn’t the fight I wanted but this is the fight we got” Captain Král started
“ I’m sure you’ve heard scuttlebutt about the situation but here it is. We are facing a superior force numbering 49 ships. And we need to give the Commodore’s squadron time to go to FTL and get the hell out of here.” he paused before continuing, “ The plan is to mix it up with the enemy at close range. They aren’t in battle formation yet so we can hurt them.”
“Good luck and let’s make them regret fucking with the Roanoke.”
The sounds of cheers came back over the speakers.
“Helm, are we clear of the station shielding?” the Captain asked
At the affirmative given by the helmsmen, he just nodded
Touching a button on his console, he asked, “Are you in place XO?”
“Aye Sir.” the Lt. Commander replied
“ As soon as we land, be ready to open up with the dual and quad mounts.” He ordered
The XO replied with an affirmative.
“Helm, at my command, jump between 25-50 km to the starboard of the fleet.”
“As soon as we land, hard to port and get us in the middle of them. Be ready for rapid maneuvers, maybe we can throw off their laser battery tracking systems. Might let us survive a little longer” Captain Král ordered. “Aye Sir” the helmsman replied
Taking a quick look around to make sure his crew was ready, he turned back to wait for the signal the jump drive was ready.
At the signal, he ordered “Jump”
He felt the ship lurch forward and shudder. It took less than 5 seconds to jump from the station to within the targeted range, but it felt like forever.
And then they were less than 5 km from an enemy battleship.
“Oh shit!” exclaimed the helmsman and steered to avoid it. Captain Král hid a moment of panic with a joke, “ Someone make note that the jump drive targeting system needs work.”
His joke brought a chuckle from his crew and got them back to focus on the taste.
Stabbing a button on his console, he ordered “XO, fire secondary batteries,”
There was nothing to see or hear from the massive volleys of the secondary batteries coming to life. But he knew the gun crews were already raining devastation on enemy warships. “Helm, Hard to Port!” he ordered, not tearing his view away from the main viewscreen.
Captain Král looked at his console at the images sent to the bridge from the various gun cameras.
He could see the flashes of light from projectiles hitting their shields. He watched as other high-velocity projectiles punched through their hulls. He could just make out the impact of the explosive-tipped slugs fired by the autocannons.
Captain Král turned back to the main viewscreen. “Hard to starboard!”
“Head for that big son of a bitch!” he ordered
The Naalx were slow to respond but they began to return fire with some trying to gain some distance to clear the line of fire of other ships. The helmsman’s evasive maneuvers were also giving the enemy’s gunners fits from repeated misses.
But the damage sensors on the armor told of an increasing number of hits as the Naalx began to respond in an organized manner. The resistance coating reduced the damage from the Naalx laser batteries but didn’t completely nullify it. “Helm, get me a clear shot at the command ship.” the Captain ordered
A bright flash to starboard marked the death of an enemy cruiser. Status reports listed 2 sub-capitals holed and venting atmosphere. Dead or damaged, they were out of the fight.
One capital ship was dead in space with another missing its bow.
5 down too damn many to go The captain muttered
He watched and waited, ignoring damage alarms and the occasional shudder as shots began to get through the armor and explosively decompress a compartment when they penetrated the hull.
He finally saw what he wanted, an unobstructed line of fire to the command ship.
His finger smashed down on the console button. “ XO, Launch Torpedoes. Take the gloves off the main batteries. Drop the hammer!”
He watched the glitter of the particle beams as they bridged the gap between the Roanoke and the Naalx ship. In a moment, he caught sight of the torpedoes' thrusters as they left the tubes and picked up momentum. Holes and brief explosions marked the impact of his weapons. But the sheer volume of Naalxian fire was beginning to take its toll. The armor was failing or had failed in over a dozen spots. 3 autocannon and 1 railgun mount were out of commission.
2 minutes after they launched the torpedoes, the sight of more than 100 Hammerhead missiles was marked by the flare of their drives. Another volley of Hammerheads was launched the moment new missiles were lifted into the racks.
Captain Král called down to tactical, “XO, hold off on another volley for hammerheads.”
Checking his console, “Launch Shrikes at targets of opportunity with no shields, rear tubes target enemy capital ships and hope those torpedoes get through.” he ordered.
Multiple small explosions let him know the point defense systems were taking on the Hammerheads. And a moment later, a pair of massive explosions told him the nuclear-tipped torpedoes had hit their target.
“Captain, The Commodore’s squadron has escaped.” one of his techs announced.
“Thank you,” he answered
“Distance to command ship?” he asked
“ 250 km Sir” was the reply
“Helm, continue advancing on the command ship and pass her on our port side. We’ll give her a broadside and go to FTL after we clear.”
A tech from the damage control position spoke up, “Captain! FTL is down and jump drive is destroyed”
“Ahh hell’ cried the Captain.
“Damage report!” he ordered
“ Ventral turret destroyed, railgun mounts 2 and 5 destroyed, mount 9 damaged but functional. Autocannon mounts 11,13, 23 and 25 destroyed. Hammerhead launchers 3 and 8 destroyed.” The tech checked the screen before continuing, “ Explosive decompressions on decks 3 and 5. Explosive decompression in Med Bay. Ablative armor badly damaged and penetrated in around 20 spots. Engine #3 is down. Power unstable in many areas of the ship”
“FTL down, engineering needs an hour to fix. The jump drive is destroyed. Long-range comms are down” The tech finished.
“Casualty reports!” Captain Král ordered
A different tech replied, “249 dead, roughly 800 wounded with 327 too injured to fight.”
“Thank you.” he returned. Doing the math in his head he had just over 1300 combat effective and 482 of those were his Marines, the other 18 were left behind.
After thinking a moment, “Helm, same course as before but since we can’t go to FTL, circle to the aft of the command ship and lessen the incoming fire for the moment”
Looking over to the comms tech, “ Get me the chief engineer on the horn.”
Tapping the switch on the console, he called down to tactical. “ XO, I’m taking us around to the aft of the command ship and play peek-a-boo.”
“We’ll pass on her port side and I want a broadside from all batteries that can hit it and launch half the Shrikes we have left at it.”
“After we get to their rear, target enemy aft batteries, I want them all hunks of twisted metal.” Captain Král ordered
“Aye Sir.” Lt. Commander Ricci replied. “Ammo count update Sir.”
“Go ahead,” he replied
“Only the two forward tubes are loaded, aft tubes empty, railgun and autocannon are down to 30%. Dorsal turret is at 10% but they are working on transferring surviving ammo from the Ventral turret.
We can launch 4 more full racks of Shrikes and 5+ Hammerheads.” She finished
“Understood. Thank you” Captain Král replied
“Captain, Chief Engineer on the line” a tech relayed
“Route it to my console,” he ordered
“ I need you to place charges on the computer core, all the experimental equipment, engines, and fire suppression control. If we go down, I don’t want them getting a damn thing but blood and pain.”
“Aye Sir.” The Chief replied.

Captain Král turned back to watch as the Roanoke passed the command ship to port. He watched as massive explosions rippled across the enemy flank and dorsal surface. They were too close for the point defense to pick off the majority of the Shrikes.
As the Roanoke got behind and slightly below the enemy command ship, she slowed and allowed her surviving batteries to silence the command ship's aft batteries.
Captain Král called down to tactical, “XO, fire half our remaining hammerheads into her engines.”
“Affirmative,” replied the XO
Captain Král watched as the hammerheads impacted the command ship’s engines and saw the thrust nozzles dim as the engines went offline. The enemy batteries stopped firing and she began to drift.
“Helm, get us 500 km from the command ship and line up to fire our last 2 avalanche torpedoes.” Captain Král ordered
“Aye Sir, 500km bow towards the enemy” the helmsman repeated
The Captain called down to tactical ” Nana, We’re positioning the ship to line up the front tubes and we’re going to kill that bastard. Stay on the line and fire on my order.”
“Aye Sir, we’re ready.” The XO answered
“Helm?” Captain Král asked
“ 3 seconds Captain.” the helmsman replied
Captain Král watched and as soon as he got the angle he wanted, “Fire Torpedoes!” he commanded
The whole bridge crew watched and waited for the impact. Both torpedoes struck amidships and tore massive holes in the hull. As they watched, lines of explosions traveled across the hull and began to rip the ship in half. The bridge crew let out a yell and the rest of the ship after the Captain had the information broadcast over the intercom.

“ Helm, get us the hell out of here. Maybe we can outrun the bigger ships and buy time to fix the FTL.” Captain Král ordered
But before the helmsman could act, there was a massive jolt.
“What the hell?” he yelled
A tech answered, “ We were rammed by a Naalx cruiser and several smaller ships are closing in.“
But instead of ramming the Roanoke, they launched breeching pods.
His finger stabbed down to open the intercom. “ All hands, Prepare to Repel Boarders! Security teams, tactical will relay their access position. “ He ordered
He pulled out his sidearm and checked that it was ready. Several other techs did the same, while his security detachment moved to defensive positions to watch the hatch.
“Target those pods!” Captain Král ordered but he didn’t need to say it, his gunnery crews were on it. Here and there a brief flash of light marked the destruction of a pod.

“XO, fire all remaining missiles. Pick your targets,” he commanded “All batteries, open fire.”
He left the tac net open to track the status of the enemy boarding parties.
He listened to the cacophony of noises coming over the tac net.
“Security team alpha to section 7, level 3. Bravo team section 2 level 1, Charlie team section 12, level 5” Lt. Commander Ricci ordered.
“There’s too many, fall back to position 2…” an unidentified voice ordered
Another voice firmly stated, “Hold your ground, nothing gets past us.”
“Theta team down, a handful of Naalx heading for engineering!” a panicked voice exclaimed
And dozens of others just like it, always with the sound of combat in the background.
“Captain, more breaching pods en route!” a tech exclaimed
“Get me the Chief Engineer!” the Captain ordered
At the Chief Engineer’s response, he ordered “Detonate all sabotage charges except the main computer. Set that one on a manual trigger at my console with a 20-minute timer as a backup. And then set the reactors to overload, we’re not going to hold the ship much longer. And set a charge to breach the hull and decompress Engineering as soon as you are clear”
“Affirmative, Captain. She was a good ship” the Chief replied
Turning to his bridge crew, “Give the order to abandon ship. Have all the pods head for the station.”
The Captain called tactical, “Lt. Commander Ricci, all hands abandon ship. Get as many of them home as you can.”
“ I understand, Sir.” She answered, “I’ll see you at the station.” she said hopefully
“I'm afraid not, Nana. I’m the Captain and I’m going down with my ship.” he stated, “And someone needs to make sure they can’t shut down the overload.”
“Transfer all fire controls to my station and get the hell out of here.”
“Aye Sir, It’s been an honor” the XO replied
“The honor is all mine. You are going to make an excellent Captain. Goodbye my friend” Captain Král finished.
His bridge crew tried to convince him to go with them but he declined and ordered security to get them into the escape pods.
Then he sat and watched as his consoles began reporting each pod as it launched. He also kept an eye on his sensors and concentrated fire on any Naalx ship that was moving to intercept the pods. They knew better than to fire on them but nothing said they couldn’t capture them.
He also prepared a probe with all the ship logs and combat data and fired it toward human-held territory. It would run silently until it exited the system and then begin broadcasting a coded signal for pickup.
He was dismayed at how few pods had left the ship and regretted so many young lives had been cut short.
As he saw the last pod clear the battlefield, he sat back for a moment and then triggered the charge on the main computer.
A hard pounding came from the other side of the hatchway. But there wasn’t enough power to open it. He guessed the pinging on the door was them firing their lasers and trying to blast it open.
He wondered if it would work but a huge rumble, a bright flash, interrupted, and the long career of Captain Král was finally over.
News of the Roanoke’s final battle flashed across news channels on hundreds of worlds. Her courageous and foolhardy charge at a superior force. The damage she did to the Naalx fleet before her destruction. How, of the 1859 members of the crew that went into the battle, only 108 survived.
The videos taken from both sides during the battle played over and over again.
How the Naalx picked up all the escape pods and released them on the station immediately.
And even recovered the bodies of any human they found while gathering their dead.
Naalx losses were the command ship, 2 capital ships, 9 sub-capitals destroyed, and a dozen other vessels damaged in one form or another. Naalx casualties were over 50,000 dead
Only the Naalx’s immense respect for courage, audacity, and bravery in the face of danger kept the skirmish from blowing up into a war.
The Naalx rendered full military honors as they turned the Human dead over to Lt. Commander Ricci.
The Captain Král, A Grenville-class cruiser, was launched 2 years later. Captain Nana Ricci in command.
Authors note- I hope you enjoyed this story. It's based on a historical event. Which according to an idiot on youtube is plagiarism.
If you feel like leaving a tip https://ko-fi.com/tomcarey

Welcome to the SpaceX Starlink 6-59 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

Welcome everyone!

Scheduled for (UTC)	May 18 2024, 00:32:00
Scheduled for (local)	May 17 2024, 20:32:00 PM (EDT)
Launch Window (UTC)	May 18 2024, 00:32:00 - May 18 2024, 03:30:00
Payload	Starlink 6-59
Customer	SpaceX
Launch Weather Forecast	75% GO (Anvil Cloud Rules, Cumulus Cloud Rule)
Launch site	SLC-40, Cape Canaveral, FL, USA.
Booster	B1062-21
Landing	The Falcon 9 first stage B1062 will land on ASDS ASOG after its 21st flight.
Mission success criteria	Successful deployment of spacecrafts into orbit
Trajectory (Flight Club)	2D,3D

Timeline

Time	Update
T+0d 12h 14m	Thread last generated using the LL2 API
2024-05-17T09:53:43Z	Launch time is to the second.
2024-05-17T01:01:30Z	Updated launch weather.
2024-05-16T22:34:11Z	T-0 confirmed by SpaceX
2024-05-14T01:35:52Z	Tweaked launch window.
2024-05-13T07:51:48Z	Tweaked launch window per marine navigation warnings.
2024-05-11T09:30:57Z	Added launch per NOTAMs.

Watch the launch live

Stream	Link
Official Webcast

Stats

☑️ 363rd SpaceX launch all time
☑️ 309th Falcon Family Booster landing
☑️ 70th landing on ASOG
☑️ 265th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (excluding Amos-6) (if successful)
☑️ 52nd SpaceX launch this year
☑️ 24th launch from SLC-40 this year
☑️ 4 days, 23:39:00 turnaround for this pad
Stats include F1, F9 , FH and Starship

Launch Weather Forecast

Weather
Temperature	24.5°C
Humidity	90%
Precipitation	1.8 mm (45%)
Cloud cover	100 %
Windspeed (at ground level)	14.5 m/s
Visibillity	8.8 km

Resources

• https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-6-59

Partnership with The Space Devs

Information on this thread is provided by and updated automatically using the Launch Library 2 API by The Space Devs.

Community content 🌐

Link	Source
Flight Club	u/TheVehicleDestroyer
Discord SpaceX lobby	u/SwGustav
SpaceX Now	u/bradleyjh
SpaceX Patch List

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