Wade held Jasmine in his arms as he flew a low height down the long road to another section of the staryard, Tina on his back and Nathan and F right behind them in the air. Together, the five glided across the base grounds, taking care as to not irritate the aerial security during their search for the meeting room. Being outside for the flight, the group considered it a blessing that Wade's 'enhanced cooling unit' allowed his body to tolerate the breaching sun in the still cloudy sky, which, according to F, was dangerous to drones like her due to the inefficient cooling she and disassembly drones like her suffered from. Given F's physical fault, she had to fly under shady areas in order to safely traverse the base at day.
Originally, Wade and his friends had planned to walk to the meeting zone, but after running into a trooper experiencing a health mishap, the group did what they could to help the distressed officer. By the time he was brought to the medical ward by other soldiers, Wade found that him and his team would be at least a few minutes late if they kept on their way with their walk.
Deciding to speed things up, Wade, understanding the concern for performing such an effort, opted to carry the Fowleys around the base to the meeting area. Reluctantly, F decided to come along, carrying Nathan in a similar manner that Wade was carrying Jasmine. Taking notice of the time on his HUD, which read, "9:47 AM", Wade scouted for the building he and his friends were directed to. "8072" He said to himself, the number being for the building that would house the imminent meeting.
"They said it was down here, right?" Wade asked aloud to Tina before stopping himself in mid-air, the girl holding onto him tightly as he tried to speak over the growing sound of a retrofit Apache flying overhead.
Looking about, Tina nodded as she spotted the target building. "Yes, I believe that's the one over there!" Pointing past his head, Wade followed her finger to a large building ahead at his right. The structure was moderately tall, only about two stories high, with several soldiers and officers going in and out of the building. Wade smiled as he noticed the target number, as well as the big, bold words describing the building's designation. "8072, Briefing Center B"
"Good eye, honey. Hang on!" Continuing his low glide, Wade zoomed towards the building's entrance before stopping just meters above the ground, his two friends close behind as they slowed down as well. The troopers around them initially looked startled by the sudden arrival of Wade and his group, but quickly regained their composure as Wade hovered still above them.
"At ease! Just visitors." One of the soldiers declared as they identified the newcomers, who touched down before Wade let Jasmine down to her feet, Tina hopping onto the ground along with her.
Putting his hands up, Wade apologized for his swift surprise. "Sorry for the scare, we got delayed for a meeting we're invited to."
The soldier gave an understanding nod as he replied to the former worker drone sternly. "I can see that, just be a bit more careful next time, Mr. Carter. You gave the boys here quite a scare."
Wade returned the gesture in embarrassment as F put a hand to his back, chuckling at his efforts as Tina questioned the officer. "Is Mrs. J in there? She's the one who called for us."
The guard gave his reply as Wade and Tina pulled out their IDs for clearance. "Yes she is, Miss. The meeting's set to begin in under ten minutes." Checking the two drones' IDs, Jasmine and the others pulled out theirs as well, the watchman motioning another trooper over to verify the group. Once the guard finished checking the five's cards, he nodded in approval as the watchman spoke once more. "You're clear to enter."
"Thank you Sir, again, sorry about that spook back there." Wade replied with a smile as the trooper gave one of his own, the disassembly drone and his allies making their way towards the office door before stopping upon the call of a voice.
"Hey, Felice!" Wade turned to find the origin of the voice, F doing the same as the two quickly spotted a quartet of soldiers walking excitedly towards F. The disassembly drone glanced to her friends with a smile before turning back to the approaching entourage.
Wade examined the four troops as they got closer: Two human men, one woman, and a male worker drone. One of the male soldiers had short, blonde hair, and a small scar to the right side of their face. The second man bore a tan skin tone and had black hair, with blue strips that went down slightly in a mullet style. The woman bore a set of long, dark green hair, with the hair going down and over her left shoulder. As for the worker drone, he wore the standard green soldier helmet, single eye visor and all. He had no hair on him from what Wade could tell, and bore a pair of whiteish purple eyes on his visor.
As F walked over to the soldiers, the same one that called to her spoke again. "Felicity, I didn't expect to see you around here today! Where you been?"
The girl soldier interrupted his initial chatter. "Hang on Carlos, do you even know if she remembers us?"
"Aye, don't she have one o' them memory locks, or sumthin?" The drone added in a heavy Scottish accent.
F waved her hand as she replied to the group. "Easy, everyone. Thankfully I still got my memories, courtesy of my technician back at Central." Lowering her hand, F let down her usual persona as she gave a wide smirk to the soldiers, clearly pleased to see them. "Good to see you guys around here."
The soldiers gave light cheers to F as they all embraced her, the group having a surprise reunion as Wade and the others watched in surprise. These must've been F's old colleagues from when she was in the service, Wade thought. Quite the coincidence for them to be here at this base of all places.
Not bothering with the convenience of the matter, Wade shook the thought off as he and his friends watched F and her old friends breaking the hug, Tina wrapping an arm around her boyfriend as the second male human spoke to her in what the two discerned as Spanish. "Ay, who your new friends, F?"
"Oh, these guys?" F replied in the same language, quietly startling Wade and the others as they had never heard her speak like that until now. Glancing over to Wade, F motioned him and the others to come over. "Everyone, these are some friends I made in the past few days. Wade, Nathan, Tina, and Jasmine." She pointed her hand to the four as she said each of their names. "I met the boys here during my time on Ceres. Jasmine and Tina here are sisters."
The four soldiers gave various forms of excitement, ranging from hearty laughs to low woops and even a whistle from one of the guys. As F stood next to her old teammates, they each introduced themselves to Wade and his friends. The blonde soldier went first. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all, name's Carlos, Lieutenant Marksman."
"I'm Private Alvaros, good with close-range and stealth operations." Said the tan soldier with a salute.
"Sergeant Lucia Vasquez, usually the one who leads this bunch around these days." The female warrior stated with a humorous smirk.
"And Corporal Duncan Wallace, at your service!" The soldier drone stated proudly as he saluted to the bunch in front of him, who gave warm smiles as Wade shook his hand.
"Quite honored to meet you all, seems you have quite the history with F." The former worker drone said as Carlos patted F on her back.
"Oh, we do! She's the one who took charge when we didn't! Did you all hear of the Pasting of Nola VI?" Jasmine and Tina gave nods of affirmation while Wade, not as familiar with such history, held his hand up in a questioning manner.
"I think, wasn't that the battle where the Navy just barely held the outpost in that system? From the Stryker Clan?" Wade asked as Carlos nodded approvingly to him.
"That's right, and if Felice weren't there, WE would've been the ones getting pasted!" Carlos' statement brought victorious cheers and "oorahs" from the group, F letting a blush loose as she chuckled at her team's praise of her efforts.
"Well, that's not wrong." Although she didn't want to break off from her friends and discuss the past few years since they'd last met, F remembered the briefing. Clearing her throat, she continued. "And as much as I'd like to chat about the good times, I've been called to a meeting here, as have Wade and his crew."
The soldier group gave understanding looks to F as Lucia spoke up. "Thought so, Carl here was real eager to see you, though."
"Maybe we can talk after the meeting?" Nathan proposed as the soldiers collectively nodded in agreement, F readying a smartcomm attachment before turning to face her friends again.
"We're probably getting low on time, you all go in, I'll catch up in a sec." Wade nodded in acknowledgement before taking Tina's hand, the lover drones continuing towards the briefing center as Jasmine and Nathan followed behind them.
Passing through the door, the four guests observed a short hallway, which seemed to split into two paths as they came closer to the other end. Looking to a sign on the wall above, they saw arrows pointing to two separate areas, "Primary Briefing Room; Main Lobby + Secondary & Tertiary" Going to the right, they entered the moderately active lobby, several officers walking and standing about in mass chatter. Walking over to the desk up against the wall to their left, Wade and his group waved a hand to the occupying attendant.
"Welcome, what do you need?" The desk attendant asked as Tina raised a finger to reply.
"We're here for a meeting, Mrs. J called us here."
The attendant nodded in understanding before directing an arm towards the other end of the room, where a single door stood. "She should be in the second briefing room down that way."
"Thank you." Tina replied warmly before she and Wade began walking towards the door, their friends behind them as they proceeded into the room.
The room beyond the door was quite sizable, a large circular table occupying the middle with several chairs surrounding it. The walls went up a few meters, with four whiteish blue lights illuminating the room. On the wall opposite to Wade and Tina were three monitor screens, all of which showed the USN in bright blue. In several of the seats were faces both familiar and unfamiliar, several men and women in varying styles of uniforms conversing about quietly or taking notice of the recent visitors. Standing up near the monitors were three people: A decorated officer whom Tina identified as a ship captain, and the so-called operatives, Tessa, albeit as a hologram, and J.
Walking slowly into the room, Wade gave a low wave of his hand as he tried to hide his nervousness. Noticing his shyness in front of the officers, Tina held his hand and rubbed his arm comfortingly while returning a pleasant smile to the staff in the room.
"Ah, Wade, Tina. Glad to see you all here." J stated with a smile as she scanned the group, raising a digital eyebrow as she noticed one missing guest. "Or, most of you, I see. Did F run off somewhere?"
Wade shook his head as he replied to his fellow disassembly drone. "Oh, no. She just ran into some old friends, she should be back-"
"Right now." F finished aloud as she entered the room, seemingly having heard Wade speaking about her absence. The warrior drone fast walked to Wade's team, taking a seat near them as they prepared to do the same. "Not too late, are we?"
"Not at all." The standing officer answered as the group took their seats, Wade and Tina sitting next to each other as they got comfortable. The captain examined the lot for a moment, glancing to J as he asked about them. "So, these are the ones you helped rescue from the Mojave?"
"Yes Captain, and they helped us out greatly in turn. This is Wade Carter, one of the captured drones whom became a disassembly drone before we could mount the rescue. The luckiest one, if you ask me." Motioning her arm over the others, she continued. "And there's his girlfriend, Mrs. Tina Fowley, and her sister Jasmine." Smirking to F and Nathan, she finished her friends' introductions. "And these two are Serial Designation F and Mr. Nathan, whom I've heard were once under your ranks."
The military captain gave a welcoming smile to the five as they returned the gesture, eyeing F and Nathan specifically before speaking to them. "Indeed they were, we still have records on their contributions to the colonies." Eyeing F, he continued. "Though, in Mrs. F's case, I won't blame her if she doesn't remember us. We've been very well aware of JCJenson's 'memory suppression' protocols when it comes to their DDs."
F laid back in her seat with a smug look as she replied to her former superior. "Well, my friend on the station's a good tech gal. She's... waived that hindrance from me."
"I see, that means your still with us, am I right, Mrs. Lee?" Unlike her friends next to her, F was not startled by her original name being said aloud, rather smiling proudly as she saluted to the captain. "Good to see you again."
"Pleased to be here, Sir." F replied as she lowered her arm, glancing to her companions next to her as J spoke up.
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Captain Preston Mitchell, commander of the USNV Vickers down at the stardock."
Wade gave a respectful salute to Preston as he spoke first. "It's an honor to meet you, Sir."
"Thank you, Mr. Carter. I've heard about your efforts from J, you did an admirable job back there, son." Wade failed to hide an embarrassed blush from the compliment, but it quickly faded as a beep sounded from a small device on the table. It was swiftly silenced by the captain as he tapped a button on the small, pyramid shaped timer, then facing Wade's group before continuing. "Though, as much as we could use some small talk, it'll have to wait till later."
"Indeed, we're running late at this point." Said another officer, a highly decorated member of the base with dark skin, dark grey hair and a thin beard. He immediately won the attention of everyone in the room as he spoke up. "I'm General Hugh Hood, overseer of this base. I'm certain you know some of the reasons you're here with us, correct?"
Wade nodded as he spoke to Hood. "Yeah, it's cause of those rogue agents from the JCJenson corporation." Glancing to J, the corporate drone nodded in affirmation before speaking herself.
"Tessa and I spent the last hours of yesterday evening clearing up the matter with General Hood, along with several other officials stationed here." She stopped as the middle monitor behind her flashed with a banner at the top, reading, "INCOMING TRANSMISSION", and in place of the USN emblem was a textless version of the JCJenson logo. Below the profile image was another two lines of text. "N. Jenson (Company Exec); Comms Source: Yottrite IV"
"And also told our boss about what happened here too, he wanted to give his say on this ordeal." Looking to the general, J asked him, "May I put him on?"
Hood only gave a nod of approval to the corporate drone before she picked up a remote on the table and tapped a button, accepting the call as the picture shifted to show a middle-aged man in a pristine-looking business suit on the screen.
Wade and Tina glanced to each other before J introduced their guest on the screen. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the CEO of JCJenson: Mr. Noor Jenson."
Jenson gave a pleased nod to his subordinate as he spoke to J. "Thank you for the pleasantries, J. I see we are ready to discuss our plans on dealing with this 'recall' disaster I've bore witness to on the news this morning?"
J nodded as she replied to her boss. "Indeed, I've explained to General Hood here about our efforts yesterday, and, as of recent, we've just received a message from a source we believe to be close to the company."
Mr. Jenson looked down to J attentively as he spoke to her. "Well, that's quite intriguing news, J. Do you have this message available for us to view?" J and Hood both nodded in affirmation, but didn't get an immediate reply as Jenson gazed to Wade and his friends. "...And I presume these are some of the drones rescued from one of the factories?"
Again, J nodded to her superior before explaining her colleagues. "Yes Mr. Jenson, the two drones at the front in particular were among those taken by the Administrator and their subordinates." Pointing an arm to Wade and Tina, she introduced the drone couple. "The disassembly drone here is Mr. Wade Carter, a brother to his-technically speaking-owner, the late Ron Carter. The latter helped us recover Wade during an initial raid inside the Nevada facility." When bringing up Ron, J gave an apologetic look to Wade as to show she did not mean to be offending on him and his brother's relationship. "And this is his romantic partner, Mrs. Tina Fowley. I heard she and her sister Jasmine are pilots."
Jenson looked over the two drones as his obedient employee described them to him, quietly sighing as Wade and Tina returned the gaze with nervous smiles. Once J finished, Jenson spoke to Wade. "I... would say it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Carter. But, given recent events, I don't hold fault to you for feeling frustrated at me for my... former subordinate's actions."
Wade shook his head lightly, taking Jenson's light apology with a faint smile as he replied to the CEO. "Actually, I don't. The only person I have such feelings put towards is," He hesitated for a moment, his anger at Dr. Halloway returning for a short moment before he eased himself. "..That bastard Halloway."
"The feeling's mutual, Mr. Carter. Dr. Halloway has been trying my patience for years now, especially with you and your fellow disassembly drones." Looking to J, then F, he returned his gaze to Wade before questioning him on his new body. "I don't know if J has told you of this, but if there's one truth my company has admittedly not held up to for a while, it's our quality. Recently, some of my research staff here made blueprints for an upgraded variant of the disassembly drone design. It's intended to fix several faults we expected to be nonexistent previously, most notably that atrocious cooling unit."
As a schematic pulled up on the left monitor, everyone glanced to the improved design before F spoke up about it. "If I may ask, Mr. Jenson, how big of an improvement is this new cooling unit supposed to be?"
"Good question, F. Frankly, it's supposed to do away with the issue entirely. Saves us from sacrificing enormous supplies of oil for the poorly built unit in the previous iterations. We even tested it with a repaired drone just a few days ago, and it worked flawlessly." Then, glancing to Wade again, he questioned the former worker drone on his new form. "Speaking of, how does your enhanced body feel, Mr. Carter? I'm certain it feels better to not have to-"
"Actually, Mr. Jenson," Wade interrupted, pulling out one of his canteens as he answered the CEO on his upgrades. "I guess Halloway changed up the blueprints, cause unfortunately this new cooling unit didn't cure the overheating problem. I... kinda learned that the hard way." Wade glanced to Tina apologetically, still feeling bad from her seeing him eat the corpse of the dead murder drone back at the factory.
The corporate CEO grimaced in frustration as he took in Wade's statement, already intolerant of the head researcher's actions as he replied. "...I was worried about that, Edgar always likes to run things his own way, making excuses for that 'Administrator' he watches over." Taking an agitated breath, he continued on with his spew on the two culprits of yesterday's events. "It was only because of all the very impressive creations and enhancements she and her research team provided that I tolerated them for so long, but this..." Sitting up straight in front of the camera, Jenson finished sternly. "J said the Administrator... Cyn, I believe? She was apparently something worse than we presumed originally, and I'm very inclined to believe so after yesterday."
"As well as the program tied to the Administrator, the AbsoluteSolver." J clarified before receiving an agreeing nod from Mr. Jenson, standing corrected on his placing of blame.
Raising a hand, Nathan asked about the supposed plans. "Yeah, about this "Solver Project", what do we plan to do about that?"
"Good question, Nate." Tessa replied as she crossed her arms before looking to Jenson and beginning her explanation. "Initially, we were going to investigate the other factories spread across Earth in order to get some more info on the Administrator before things get worse. But, just this morning, it seems someone else saved us the trouble." Just as Tessa neared the end of her sentence, J held up the remote again, tapping a few buttons before the left monitor shifted to show a slightly grainy video onscreen.
The video only showed a single being, a worker drone, dressed in a chrome suit and bearing a set of yellow eyes. Behind them was what appeared to be a vacant room, a few shelves holding many books within them standing still in the back. The drone's visage indicated they were filled with immense anxiety, terrified of being caught as they spoke quietly to the camera.
"I can only hope someone gets this in time, they're gonna be on me once they find out the transmitter screens are down!" Turning the camera, he showed what appeared to be a large factory room, several more of the mysterious conveyor belts like at the factory slotted next to each other. It was hard to discern every detail due to not only the window reflection, but also the dark lighting in the inactive conveyor room. Filming the room beyond, the drone continued. "Dr. Halloway's a madman, he's got more of those stolen drones being brought here and he's going to be overseeing it in the afternoon tomorrow! I've seen what happened back in Nevada, I can't take this any longer! I'm at coordinates ##.######, -###.###### Please, send someo-"
The suspicious, partially scrambled transmission immediately cut off to static, leaving Wade, Tina, and their friends with confused expressions as Tessa spoke up. "Yeah, that caught me by surprise too."
"So, that guy says they got more drones being sent 'there', but... where is there, exactly?" Jasmine asked with immense curiosity.
"I was hoping you'd ask that, Mrs. Fowley." The technician replied as she glanced to J, who tapped a few more buttons on the remote before speaking over her boss-friend.
"While the transmission itself isn't much to work off of, our friends from Comms over here managed to intercept the signal earlier, and even better, discern where it originated from." As J started her explanation, the screen shifted once more to show a large city, with one skyscraper highlighted in red as it was zoomed towards on the screen. "That scrambled audio wasn't a simple glitch, it was intentionally done so as to hide key information for us to uncover. Upon cleaning up the message, we managed to recover a set of coordinates, which direct to this structure here, in San Francisco."
Wade and his friends stared at the building in shock, examining the tall structure as it stood over the shorter buildings in the city. Tina broke the silence in her gaze. "So, this is another factory? It looks... terribly different from the one we got out of."
"Not exactly, Mrs. Fowley." Mr. Jenson answered, Tina and the others looking to him as he continued. "THAT is the Administrator's main laboratory, its location was kept on the down low so other authorities and terrorist groups wouldn't find out what the buildings true purpose was." Sighing, Jenson completed his reply. "But, with this recent mistake of Halloway's, that place has lost all purpose for us at the company."
Wade raised a hand to speak. "So, we're going to pounce on that place? Get Halloway before he runs off again?"
"Exactly." General Hood replied as he looked up to Mr. Jenson. "This whole 'recovery/recruitment' effort has gotten out of hand all across Sol. We've gotten countless reports of people being killed because of this, be it the brutal robberies here in Nevada or the bloodbath on Ceres. Even if Mr. Jenson refuses to cooperate, this has become a dire matter for us now. One way or another, this insanity will be stopped with due haste."
The CEO nodded in acknowledgement before explaining his own plans for the mission. "Speaking of cooperation, upon seeing what was happening at Earth, I ordered a detachment of our corporate starships in orbit at the time to depart for Sol in order to help with investigating the situation. They're not warships, but they are well-armed. I'll dispatch them to your authority upon concluding this call." Glancing to Wade and his team for a moment, Jenson continued. "As for the mission, I may not have much of a say, but let it be known that you have my blessing to do whatever it takes to end this madness. I don't care what you do with Halloway or any of his lackeys, or what happens to that facility down there... I want that program shut down."
"Thank you for the extra hands, Mr. Jenson. We'll make sure this Administrator is dealt with." Hood replied gratefully as Wade sat firm in his seat, Tina and the others following suite.
"General?" The former worker drone said aloud, catching Hood's attention before he made his request. "I know I'm not a soldier, but I want to help with dealing with Halloway and his grunts. After what he did, after losing my brother, I can't rest until I see that man stopped."
Tina raised a finger as well. "As do I, Wade could use a hand with those people, and given how we did during our escape run out of that place, I think the two of us make quite the duo." She glanced to Wade with a smirk as she referenced their combat prowess when flying together.
Nathan and F stood up before the latter gave her own request. "Sir, I wish to take part in this mission as well. I can also recommend Wade for you too, as I fought alongside him during the factory raid."
"Wouldn't mind giving a hand myself! And I'm sure my pal Kurtis would love to help, he's here at the base too!" Nathan added with a confident smirk, the group's determination encouraging Jasmine to stand up as well.
"I'd like to help too." She stated simply, a smile on her face as the general and his companions observed the five guests.
Admittedly, Hood knew it would be a bit absurd to allow these people to take part in an operation which would certainly involve bloodshed, especially considering most of them merely had civilian status at the moment. But, upon careful evaluation of the five, their desire to see this problem dealt with, and the fact that some of them had experience on the field...
He paused his train of thought as Captain Mitchell spoke to him. "General? I read up on the Fowleys' files when we recovered Mrs. Jasmine here, they provided service in their early careers." He smirked to the pilot sisters as he finished adding his say. "And to be frank, we need more people like them here. The records we have of them showed them to be damn fine pilots."
Tina blushed at the praise from Mitchell as she spoke to the general. "That is true, we uh... did get discharged for our... 'fancy maneuvering'."
"Sir?" Jasmine said, the general's attention on her as she added to the conversation. "Even if our flying is a bit out of protocol, Tina saved a lot of people on that starjet a few days back. I can promise you, she's an excellent woman to have at the wheel."
Glancing to Wade again, Hood took in his face, one of begging desperation as he spoke once more. "Please, Sir. My brother, the troops he brought from the Coalition, Halloway's gotten them all killed cause of this. I want to do this. I HAVE to do this, at least for them."
The good general took a deep, quiet breath, considering his decision once more before finally revealing it to Wade and his friends. "Mr. Carter, Fowleys? I'm probably making myself a fool for saying this, but you're permitted to assist us in this mission."
The drone couple contained their gratefulness in the form of ecstatic grins as Wade replied to the general. "Thanks, General. We won't let you down."
"And Mrs. Lee?" Hood said as he glanced to F, who returned the gesture as he told her, "You're technically under Mr. Jenson's authority, whatever his answer is, it's mine as well."
Bringing her yellow-orange eyes to her CEO, F awaited Mr. Jenson's answer. "F, yes? I heard Mr. Hood call you by a different name just now, I assume you have some experience with the army?"
The warrior drone nodded as she explained herself. "I once inherited the name of Felicity Lee, Mr. Jenson. I served under the USN Defense Forces before joining the DD Division." Then, glancing to the military staff near her, she finished with, "I had hoped to provide my enhancements to the Force one day."
Jenson gave a hint of a proud smile as he finally gave his decision. "Well, it seems you'll finally get that chance. From now on, even after this mission on Earth is over with, you're hereby dispatched to serve under the USN."
F admittedly couldn't hide her excited smirk as she flung a salute to her now former boss. "Thank you Sir!"
Looking up to Jenson, General Hood asked the CEO, "Mr. Jenson, how long until your ships can reach Earth?"
Jenson glanced down at his communication console as he answered the military leader. "At max speed, their Ion drives should be able to bring them into orbit in as little as one to two days. I believe there should be some ships within the system that could help as well."
"Signal them when you can, Mr. Jenson. We could use all the help we can get from them." The CEO nodded to Hood as he stood firmly to the viewer, the general turning to face Wade and his colleagues. "And Mr. Carter? We'll be mobilizing our forces immediately after this meeting concludes. It'll be a minute, but I want you to gather whatever items and belongings you'll need for this operation. Be ready to head to the flight pads in no more than three hours."
"Understood Sir!" Wade said with a salute, Tina, Jasmine and Nathan giving their own as Jasmine raised a finger.
"What about the area around the lab? That place looks like it's in the middle of the city."
J raised a finger as she told Jasmine and the others about their resolution of the civilian obstacle. "Shortly after reporting our findings on the transmission, Hood told us that they were sending in some teams to clear out the civilian population within several miles of the facility. Once we get there, it should be of no concern."
Jasmine sighed in relief as Tina spoke up. "So the people should be safe from any sort of danger?"
"Correct, Mrs. Tina." Preston answered before continuing. "Given the resistance Halloway and his men showed during the Coalition's raid, they most certainly won't hold back there."
"One more thing, Sir." Nathan asked. "The Coalition's going to help us out with this too, right?"
"You can count on it, Mr. Nathan." The Vickers' captain replied as he looked to J, then to Jenson as he spoke further. "I met the leader of the Coalition's detachment working with us when I was introduced to J and Mrs. Elliott here, they intend to see this conflict finished. I highly doubt they're willing to sit back and let us do this by ourselves."
"And their help will be much appreciated." Hood added, everyone's attention returned to him as he looked to Tessa, curious eyes scanning her holographic form. "And Mrs. Elliott, if I may. Do you mind heading down here to assist us in our investigations later on?"
"Funny you say that, General. I'm almost done with my own snooping around on the JCJ up in orbit, Cyn has some small departments of hers aboard, and I thought I'd gather some more intel before coming down." Glancing to Mr. Jenson, she saw him giving an understanding nod before returning her gaze to the military staff. "I should be down there by the evening, judging by where you're located."
"Do what you must, Mrs. Elliott. We could use whatever you find." Hood replied firmly as he turned once more to the JCJenson CEO. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Jenson. We will get to the bottom of this."
"It's my pleasure, General." Glancing to J and Tessa, he spoke to them once more. "J? Contact me when you've finished with Halloway and his Administrator."
"It'll be done, Mr. Jenson." The obedient servant answered before saluting firmly, receiving a final nod from her boss before he ended the transmission.
With their off-world guest out of the way, Hood looked to Wade and his friends, J, Tessa and Captain Mitchells sharing the gaze with them as the general spoke to them in finality. "Well, you know what comes next everyone. You're all dismissed for now. And remember, landing zone by 1300."
"We'll be there Sir." Wade said with a nod as he and his friends stood up, pushing in their chairs before making their way out to the door.
As they neared it, Wade stopped for a moment as they heard Hood call to one of his friends. "And F?" The soldier drone looked to the general as he continued. "Before we depart, would you mind changing your uniform? I believe it could help with identifying you from the other disassembly drones more easily." Glancing to J, then back to F, he finished with, "I recall hearing about the most formidable drones having clones prepared, yes?"
"Correct, Sir. I'll stop by the nearest barracks while I can." F replied before turning back to the door with her colleagues, Wade opening the door for them all as they passed through. After them, Wade passed through himself, shutting the door to the meeting room as he returned to the lobby.
Walking about together, F spoke to Wade and the others. "Well, that went smoothly. I'll be heading down to the barracks, then head over to your place to help out."
"Actually," Wade replied, raising a finger up as he asked his fellow murder drone, "You think you could bring your friends over? We could get to know each other while we're getting ready."
F glanced to Nathan with a smile before returning her eyes to Wade. "I could see about that. You're gonna like them, I can promise you that."
Taking Tina's hand, Wade walked with his girlfriend alongside Jasmine and the others, nearing the hallway they came through as they prepared for the walk back to the apartment.

So in my country we have mandatory military service for 2 years for anyone born biologically male, I did mine 9 years ago. It's a bit of a rite of passage here and usually people come out of it with some fun crazy stories but recently I was talking to some of my buddies and I realised my stories from being in the army are kind of... different from theirs? While I was in the army I developed a self harm habit - cutting on myself and a needle addiction (not drugs, just needles) and I used to think I just reacted particularly badly to the army regimentation compared to everyone else but I started reading up about psychological/emotional abuse and now I'm just kind of wondering if that was actually the root cause.
I think a lot of it had to do with my sergeant major? He was a very angry dude, you could tell he had a lot of frustration about his life and he would take it out on us, especially those of us who made it to the rank of sergeant. Pretty much every day we would be told that we were not good enough soldiers and commanders and that we would never be good enough. We were in a so called "elite" unit so he would just constantly remind all of us that we didn't deserve to be there.
There was a lot of humiliation kind of tactics he would use as well like if any of the men under our command did something wrong he would do things like stand us in front of the unit and cut badges and patches off our uniform in front of everyone because apparently we were such lousy people and commanders and what not. He never did actually hit anyone but he did throw a couple of objects at people from time to time and he would hit people like on their helmets so they wouldn't actually get hurt, just scared a bit.
I think the thing that made me start to question if we were getting abused is I recently remembered the time he wiped human shit on one of us. He was trying to prove that we were bad commanders again so he asked us to clean the barracks with the men. After we cleaned everything, on his inspection he was clearly trying to find something to fault us so he reached his hand into the toilet bowl as far back as he could go and found some human shit there. He showed it to us and told us that we fucked up the cleaning and things were still dirty, then he wiped it on one poor guy. After that he punished all the commanders of course.
I dunno if this sounds trivial or anything? Like if this is just the kind of thing people in the military go through I guess? I dunno, we were like 19 at the time and our choices were do the military service or go to jail so the guys in my unit and I just... soldiered through it. I had a pretty nasty self harm habit going by around a year into the army. I would steal scalpels and needles from the medical centre and I would cut on myself every couple of days and stick needles into myself maybe every other day or so.
I also really wanted out but I didn't want to look weak so I kind of just pushed myself harder? In the hopes that one day I would just collapse during training so they would be forced to take me out. It was kind of funny cos I never did collapse but I was pushing so hard that I outperformed everyone else in the unit and to this day everyone still thinks I loved my time in the army. It's hell. I wish people knew.
Sorry for the long rambly post and if it sounds silly to be so worked up about something like this. I just wanted to tell someone. Just get it off my chest you know? Thought I'd feel better about it. Not sure though haha

Madfinger Devs:
First off, thank you. This game is scratching an itch for me and some of my prior service buddies that I wasn't sure was ever going to be scratched unless we made it ourselves. So, thank you. I've got about 50 hours of playtime in so far and there are some kinks to work out, but there are overall a ton of great things about this game and we are thoroughly enjoying it thus far. So, the following is a wishlist of sorts that the group of guys I play with have come up with. We are fully aware that this is in Early Access and I expect bugs, imbalance, and issues. This is not a complaint, it's meant to be a mostly constructive criticism, with some wish list sprinkled in that we think would really send this game to the next level for those who are similarly-minded.
Item Interaction
Interacting with items is much harder than it should be. Opening and closing doors, picking things up, it feels like I have to hover around looking for some magical point on the item in order to interact with it. Maybe this is an adjustment in the radius of the pointer, or the interactable sphere of the model itself but this should be just a *little* more forgiving, so that opening and closing doors/windows and picking up items can happen just a little bit faster.
Nameplates
For the love of god. Please add some way to ID friendlies, even if just my own squad besides the map. A name plate, maybe a green dot on the compass, something. I'm all for immersiveness, but it's hard to maintain formation when i can't see who my teammates are half of the time. Even if it's a name plate that only appears when i aim directly at them, something.
Healing
We love that there is more of an emphasis on how one heals than simply using a medkit. However, it seems like this process is a little more arduous than necessary. For instance, the healing of teammates is unfortunately abysmal at the moment. The "Examine" system is fine, but then if I move my mouse even a few pixels, I have to re-examine the teammate before I can "heal" them. Then, I have to have the items out and on my chest rig or in my pockets to use items on a teammate or faction member. This seems a little odd. So, Suggestions for healing:

1. Ensure that any items inside of an MFAK or QRKit can be used directly on yourself or a patient without having to go into inventory and open them. Even if there has to be some sort of time penalty or extra animation, it is worth it. The constant swapping back and forth between my health screen and inventory is a bit tedious.
2. Have these same items be accessible when working on OTHERS. As of now, if I switch into my inventory to bring items out of my med bags, I have to re-examine the casualty in order to administer aid. This wastes precious time when a teammate is bleeding out. I suggest two fixes here: 2a) As above, items in QRKits and MFAKs are accessible so long as those med bags are either on the belt or chest rig. 2b) Once a player examines a casualty, they should not have to examine them again unless they either sustain more injuries, or some appropriate amount of time has passed. Once I know they have a broken arm and GSW to the neck, I don't forget that if I look in my inventory. Please fix this.
3. When I was in the military, we always harped on using the casualty's own IFAK to render aid first, before dipping into our own. We carry our IFAK so that we are essentially providing the supplies needed for our own first level of care. It would make a lot of sense to when examining the casualty, it also checks to see if any of the necessary medical supplies to treat the casualty's wounds are actually in their own inventory (can be restricted to medical bags affixed to their belt/chest rig) and use those first, before using our own supplies. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to stop and try to help a random faction mate bleeding in the street only for them to die, and I've wasted my precious bandages and blood packs on them. in PvP, you could maybe loot their body, but in PvE it's a total loss. You can't recover your items and the player is just gone. Applying their own aid first would alleviate a lot of this waste and also give it a little more realistic edge.
4. We should be able to drag unconscious/coma teammates. If a teammate goes down, we should be able to drag their body back into cover. Maybe limit this to squadmates only, so that there's less of a chance of griefing/trolling but it should be possible to drag a comrade to safety to administer aid, rather than having to kneel in the middle of the road to do so.

A More Dynamic LZ system
What we have currently works on a basic level. It's essentially a bunch of roller coasters that give the player a bird's eye view of the map as they traverse from one point to another. However, this system could use some improvements.

1. Ability to extend the time a bird is on an LZ. Sometimes things happen, and for the bird to touch down for 10s and take off because you're bandaging after an unexpected contact can be rough. That wait can be 10-15 minutes and in some cases longer. Either A) make the wait time 30s and once all squad members "ready up" the bird can lift off immediately, OR B) the wait time stays +/-10s and squad members on the LZ can "Press Y" to request the bird stays on deck for another 10 seconds.
2. 4 birds per faction can be extremely frustrating, especially when there are lots of solos and duos. We have to find a way to make more birds available or to better use the 4 that are available:
   1. Simply make more birds available. 1xhelicopter per squad on server.
   2. Make it so that players can "ride back" on birds that are dropping off players. (Yes, this could extend in-flight time for birds in the air, but it could also reduce number of requests). If a bird drops a team off at Charlie 1, and I am there, the bird can show on map Destination: C1 > RTB, and I would know that bird is returning to base after dropping off at Charlie 1. If I hop onto that bird, it flies back to base, if I do not, it can fly off-map to the nearest edge. I think this could easily be implemented and would cut down on a lot of helo requests to LZ's.
   3. Implement a fuel system on the birds. For instance, I'm at Foxtrot 2 and want to go to India 1. If I request to India 1, and there's a bird already en route to an F-2 or a nearby LZ, and it has fuel capacity to get to India 1, it can drop off its team, pick me up and take me to India 1. Once fuel capacity is reached, it flies off-map at nearest edge
   4. Any one of these or hybrid method could reduce the amount of wait times for teams to get birds, and also be more efficient for getting teams to and from locations using the same birds already in play, especially if Patrol Bases or faction Main Bases could be opted as helo refueling options?
3. Maybe able to purchase an emergency Pickup? It can be expensive ($10K+), but being able to call in a bird to any open, flat area for an emergency pickup would be cool. It would also give us a reason to use the currently pointless smoke grenades.
   1. Emergency Pickup only useable in area that has 30m+ radius of open ground with no trees.
   2. Call in Bird, at 30 seconds out, you have to pop a colored smoke, the bird will confirm color and land on your smoke.

Death Penalty/Loot - Okay, so it is nice that when a player dies, they have an opportunity to return to their corpse and get their loot back. This is a nice touch and has saved me a bit of money and gear over the past couple weeks. However, even in PvE there should be a way for some to loot a dead body. I am thinking of maybe 2 ways to do this:

1. Now, I say maybe keep the first-death grace period to go back and get your loot, assuming you can make it. However, if you die a second time, that corpse should become lootable. Perhaps, a time limit can be imposed so that there aren't just dead bodies cluttering up the game and wasting resources, but maybe for 2-3 minutes, the corpse becomes lootable to all (or maybe just faction or even squad). This allows for teammates to help pick up the gear one may lose, if they die during PvE, and also provides some scavenging opportunities for others.
2. After the first PvE death, maybe there is a 15-minute timer to return to the body, where it is not lootable. This gives the player (in most cases) enough time to return to the body if they move quickly, and can protect their gear from opportunists. After 15 minutes, the body becomes lootable for another 5 minutes, for a total of 20 minutes of recovery time, the last 5 of which can be looted by other players. After 20, the body disappears for all. this helps to save resources and adds some scavenging, but also allows for teammates to help pick up the slack. If the player dies a second time before the 15 minutes expires, the 5 minute lootable period begins immediately.

Suppressors, Camouflage, Concealment
Suppressors and camouflage should work on AI. I don't know what system is in place to "alert" AI, but it seems like I get one suppressed shot, then anyone within 50-100m locks on to my precise location, regardless of concealment or camouflage and I come under immediate effective fire, even if I one-shot an unaware AI with a suppressed weapon. As of now, the only reason to spend the money on a suppressor in this game is if I just want my own shots to be quieter for myself and my squad. There's no tactical advantage for the money spent in PvE and the effect is limited in PvP.

1. Maybe a system that rewards players for taking controlled shots? A suppressed one-shot kill from >100m should only alert AI within immediate proximity. They can alert to the general direction of the player's shot (maybe 90-degree sector) and begin scanning.
2. Suppressed weapons fired within 50-75m of enemy AI should still alert them, but maybe to a lesser extent than they currently do. Maybe a 60-degree cone of "alerted" status for enemies in this 50-100m range when firing suppressed.
3. <50m suppressed weapons have no effect.
4. AI should not be able to see me at 50m+ through dense vegetation. I cannot see them, they should not be able to see me. Sure, if they want to spray an AK into a tree line as suppressing fire, fine. However, they should not be taking point-target shots on me because a 4-pixel by 4-pixel patch of my glove was detected.

AI- We have to talk about this
I don't know why, but it feels like I am constantly on a pendulum swinging between the extremes of AI who couldn't shoot me if their muzzle was pressed into my chest, and AI who are able to nail me in the T-Box through 12-inch thick reinforced concrete.

1. I don't know the magic middle ground, but having the AI be slightly disoriented when fired upon, maybe taking 1-2 seconds to react and get their bearings would help add a more realistic edge to the gun fights.
2. AI should behave somewhat tactically. I would love to see some bounding movements, suppressive fire, and flanking. I don't know how to implement, but maybe if there are more 4+ AI in a 20m radius, they get grouped up and become a fireteam. Two of them set a base of fire from some covered position while another two make a flanking maneuver
3. Clipping is an issue. I've died several times to AI shooting me through the floors and walls in the YBL-1 bunker. Thankfully the gear isn't prohibitively expensive, but it is an annoyance.

Flesh out this world
The island is huge. It's huge and the whole thing can be traversed on foot. It's just that there's really no reason to do so. I'd much rather just ride my helicopter to the LZ closest to my objective, in and out. Get my reward. There's no incentive to walk between points of interest unless we are trying to PvP and want to go largely undetected across the map to our ambush site. Here are some ways to accomplish a more immersive island.

1. There are no civilians. I know this can be explained away by an evacuation, but that's no fun. There could be civilians in these villages and it could be very engaging. Why am I running boxes of medical supplies out to villages where the only inhabitants are enemy combatants? Add non-combatant civilians.
   1. Make villages have non-combatants. If you kill them, it can cost you a fine and hurt your faction's standing within that village among the civilians.
   2. Civilians, if faction standing becomes too negative with them, will become hostile toward your faction. (kill too many, they arm themselves and fight back). Each faction has its own unique standing with the civilians in that village on the server, so each village can have its own diplomatic stance.
   3. Civilians can function as in-game vendors. Some dude in a market stall may sell fish, or crafting items for features I read were anticipated in later iterations of the game.
   4. If a faction's standing becomes strong enough, civilians may even arm themselves and help to drive out the hostiles occupying the village. Maybe this part is something that becomes a part of a dynamic event later.
   5. Even if they do nothing, it adds a layer of complexity to the missions, and makes it so that players must get Positive ID before taking a shot. In some cases, hostiles can pose as civilians, and pick up a weapon adding an even more immersive element to asymmetric warfare.
2. Patrol Bases - This can be done in a way that gives players a way to seek refuge and operate out of forward bases. Something like Elder Scrolls Online did the castle/keep system in their PvP where the NPC's in some neutral zones captured by one faction or another would then guard that area on behalf of the faction.
   1. Points of Interest can be captured as patrol bases. This gives another "objective" to players and can encourage more PvP interactions.
   2. Once captured, a patrol base (PB) gets assigned a number of NPC's that will fight hostile NPC's and other factions that come within a pre-determined distance of the PB.
   3. Helicopters can fly in and out of patrol bases owned by that faction. Gives an additional LZ that is less prone to LZ camping.
3. AI Patrols - Each faction should have some AI patrolling its immediately controlled areas.
   1. Dense presence in the town/area between the main base and starter town for each faction. These can be 4-6 man patrols, moving tactically and in conventional military formations. They can be engaged by players and hostile AI.
   2. Less dense patrols in forward areas. Mostly on roads between points of interest.
      1. Patrol between Crimson Shield base camp and Kiu Vongsa, between KV Gas Station and the ridge west of Hunter's paradise, along the main road, for example. Just 4-6 man patrols that walk the roads and can be engaged.
      2. Similar routes in other faction areas.

Miscellaneous Gear and Feature Wish List

1. Belt-fed weapons. Please.
   1. This could be game changing for PvE and PvP. They should be expensive. They should be heavy, and they should be more of a cone of fire. They can be powerful, suppressive weapons, balanced by the fact that they aren't meant for accurate point-target system.
   2. This gives squads an opportunity to use more immersive tactics. Setting up bases of fire, support and assault elements, etc..
   3. Should probably limit this to SAW/RPK and other lighter weapon systems
2. Laser Range Finders and Binoculars
   1. Binoculars for scouting out enemy positions.
   2. Laser Range finders for getting good distance measurements for zeroing weapons
   3. These should have weight, cost money and take up inventory space. Choosing to carry this means leaving something else behind.
3. Radios - These are a necessity.
   1. Make Radios available for purchase from one of the vendors.
   2. They have multi-channel capabilities. Faction, which is also audible in the command tent at main base. Squad, which can be heard by anyone in your squad with a radio equipped and on the squad frequency.
   3. Maybe make VOIP always on for PVP. If you're communicating, you should be audible. Can reduce range of hearing, but I think this would add a very interesting dynamic to communicating as a team and being weary of possible enemies listening to you.
4. Mortars. They're already there. Let us use them.
   1. the mortars on our main base can be put into effect and used by the players
   2. Have the radios above allow for calling fire missions. Call up main faction on radio, request fire mission from anyone on base who is listening and willing to use the mortars.
   3. Provide the "mortar team" a position for enemy fire. It can be your position and distance/direction or just a grid location to the enemy. This is where binoculars and Laser Range finders become handy.
   4. Can limit the rounds fired from base to X rounds per minute, to avoid spamming.
   5. Can also limit range. As of now, 81mm mortars can basically engage targets to Ground Zero from each base and the contested points of interest between each main base i.e YBL, Midnight Sapphire and Ban Pa.
   6. Could allow for maybe 60mm mortars with shorter range and less firepower inside of the patrol bases mentioned above, and give fire mission support to squads operating further out or omit that feature and keep
5. Make smoke grenades do something -right now, they don't have any real reason in the game other than beautifying the main base while waiting for a helicopter.
   1. Allow them to signal incoming birds at an LZ.
   2. Allow grey/white smoke but more dense for providing concealment while moving/retreating in a firefight
   3. Allow them to signal a resupply drop that could potentially be called in later in the game at a forward location. I.e. call for resupply, 15 seconds out, mark Drop zone with colored smoke and the drop occurs within 150m of that smoke.
6. Mines - I'm hit or miss on this, but I've heard others ask for it
   1. Claymores, PWN, IED, whatever. Some form of anti-personnel mine that can be used to protect avenues of approach, kick off ambushes, or defend sniper hides and machine gun nests (assuming you implement the LMG suggestion above)
7. Speaking of Command and Signal - Star Clusters and parachutes, please add these.
   1. These could be a great way to signal squad location, objectives, or signal ambush start.
8. Shared Mission Board.
   1. There should be a way for us to draw on a map, on the objective and have our team see it. Maybe everyone has a tablet that can pull up a mission brief, similar to a Ready or Not or maybe Rainbow Six style satellite imagery. We can draw on it, share it with the team and have us know various rally points, lines of departure, etc within the squad.
9. Arm bands or helmet covers to help ID squad/Team/Clan
   1. We should have a way to ID our squad. Even if it's just an orange patch on the left sleeve, or something to that effect so that we can quickly see who our friendlies and immediate squad are while on mission or in the field. Since camouflage is customizable, I wouldn't suggest removing a customization feature, but add a way for us to be able to ID one another quickly and tactically.
   2. This can later be used to implement clan regalia, etc..
10. Ghillie suits.
    1. Expensive, heavy, hot, but make them available.
    2. Maybe add a way to customize them with vegetation, especially once crafting items are released.

These are just a handful of the items we've come up with to add some more immersiveness and depth to the game. Overall, I'm very happy with what's come out so far in Early Access. I hope they continue in the direction they've been going so far.

Sometime at least NPC clothes are drip.. There's a blue version but it doesn't have camouflage like the Green version of the hoodie.. I would love it if there's a camo blue and camo red and camo black

This is not a plan for my REDONE project, but just an idea I had while I was rewatching Attack of the Clones and making some changes to Episode 2 REDONE.
A lot of influences and ideas Lucas had for Attack of the Clones were sound: a blooming love story within the political backdrop at the center of the civil war, Palpatine using the war to gain power, Anakin's disillusionment with the ways of the Jedi, a hidden web of conspiracies setting for the war, and Dooku as this Jedi renegade who has defected to the Separatists. It has a lot of cool ideas, which is why frustrating the film fumbles at materializing them.
Aside from the romance between Anakin and Padme, the major failing of Attack of the Clones is that Lucas fails to show the turmoil of people of the galaxy, which would create a condition for Palpatine to rise. It is part of the reason why the politics in this movie is so boring because it doesn't dramatize the politics. Game of Thrones showed the general audience can get into a political epic.
So I decided to make a new outline, one that is faithful to Lucas' vision, ideas, and influences, while fleshing them out to make a more coherent story, also taking some cues from The Empire Strikes Back.
I also borrowed from and built upon the AOTC fixes I have done in the past:
https://old.reddit.com/fixingmovies/comments/qoftgq/in_attack_of_the_clones_padm%C3%A9_should_have_been/
https://old.reddit.com/fixingmovies/comments/z5m5wf/in_the_dooku_duel_in_attack_of_the_clones_obiwan/
Crawl:
The galaxy is falling asunder. Thousands of solar systems have declared their intentions to leave the Galactic Republic to create the CONFEDERACY OF INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS.
This Separatist movement, supported by various conglomerates like the TRADE FEDERATION, mercilessly strikes back the crumbling Republic with the mass-produced Droid Armies.
Senator Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, is arriving at Alderaan to discuss the critical issue of granting Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers to assist the overwhelmed Jedi....
Alderaan:
The story begins with the right dab in the middle of the massive war that is yet to be called the "Clone Wars". We see Padme Amidala, now a Senator, arriving with her aide Cordé at the beautiful planet of Alderaan. After the Battle of Naboo, Padme Amidala became sort of a star--a prominent voice against the Separatist tyranny--but she is adamant against the Emergency Powers Act. This act is an amendment to the Galactic Constitution, which will grant Palpatine limitless powers, including bypassing the Senate to create a standing army to fight the Separatists. She meets Senator Bail Organa, the representative of Alderaan. Alderaan is a major progressive voting block, and Padme is here to unify the opposition against the constitutional amendment before the Senate votes on it. She has enough clouts and popularity to stop the amendment. Bail agrees with her that the emergency powers could be authoritarian, but he believes in the necessity of a centralized standing army.
As they discuss this matter, with Padme saying, "The day we stop believing democracy can work is the day we lose it", the meeting is adjourned abruptly when a city-wide alert is raised. They look outside to witness the Separatist battle fleet filling the sky, blinding the sunlight, and beginning a massive invasion of Alderaan. We switch to Count Dooku on the Separatist battleship (at this point, we don't see his face and learn his name), who reports to the hologram of his Master Darth Sidious that he has caught Senator Padme Amidala in the basket. Sidious smiles, "Good, good..."
Unknown Planet somewhere in the Outer Rim Territories:
Meanwhile, we switch to the battlefield on the other side of the galaxy. The local planetary military, under the command of the local government, is retreating from the relentless Droid Army. The Republic is continually losing the war, and we see the ineffectiveness of the planetary forces. Here, we see Anakin and Obi-Wan are commanding the withdrawal of their troops. Realizing some of the Republic forces are pinned down and on the verge of annihilation, Anakin disobeys Obi-Wan's orders to go to save the troops alone. In an act of courage, Anakin manages to save the troops and returns. As the Republic forces retreat, Obi-Wan scolds Anakin. With this, we understand Anakin's character--reckless but selflessly cares for his friends--and see his relationship with his Master Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan is struggling as a Master to Anakin Skywalker. This is because Obi-Wan didn't take Anakin because he has a connection with him. He was entrusted out of obligation and duty for his dead Master Qui-Gon Jinn (whose name does not even get mentioned in the movie). So obviously, it is no wonder their relationship seems broken. Anakin feels attachments and all the emotions the Jedi Code forbids. He thinks Obi-Wan is too strict and cold--only one-minded about missions and duties.
Coruscant:
As the Jedi head to Coruscant, Anakin has a nightmare of her mother Shmi Skywalker. She's still trapped on Tatooine as a slave, and he wonders what happened to her.
Anakin returns to Coruscant to earn a decoration for his service by the Jedi Council. Master Dooku, is seated as one of the prominent members of the Council (so it can be an actual twist when Dooku is later revealed to be a bad guy). He is on good terms with Obi-Wan and Anakin since he was Qui-Gon Jinn's Master. Chancellor Palpatine is here, too, congratulating Anakin for his heroic effort. Palpatine suggests giving Anakin a reward. Anakin asks for a leave to return to Tatooine to see his mother. Much to Anakin's dismay, the Council rejects this on the grounds that the Jedi should let go of their past and attachments. The Jedi, especially Padawans, are strictly under the discipline with no autonomy. They cannot go anywhere they want. Instead, Dooku decides to give Obi-Wan and Anakin a non-combat mission as a prize, which is to find Padme. The Alderaanians are currently unable to reach Padme. Their mission is to find her and bring her back safely.
Regards to the hotly controversial emergency powers, the Jedi Council, like the public, is divided on this issue. Obi-Wan and Dooku are supportive of the amendment. Both show their distaste toward the Senate and the politicians in handling the crisis, "Don't forget she's a politician. They're not to be trusted", "It's been my experience that Senators are only focused on pleasing those who fund their campaigns... and they are more than willing to forget the niceties of democracy to get those funds". This is why they are shown to be very much supportive of Palpatine's controversial policies that can be perceived as authoritarian. Palpatine gets stuff done. In contrast, Anakin is apolitical--he never cared about politics.
Alderaan:
Anakin and Obi-Wan depart to a ravaged Alderaan. The battle is ongoing, and the Alderaanian forces seem to be unable to beat back the Droid Army. Here, the Jedi meet Senator Bail Organa for the first time, who is overseeing the Alderaanian forces. The battle resembles the Civil War battle from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, in which both sides are dug in the trenches and unable to penetrate each other's defense line. Bail informs the Jedi that Padme's emergency powers talk was held in Aldera in ruins, currently occupied by the Separatists, and she would be stuck there--under their captive or hidden out of the enemy sight. The Separatists are entrenched in Aldera--a city protected by a massive energy shield. Bail informs the Jedi that they are on schedule and under their continued bombardment of the city, the enemy shields would be overwhelmed in a further month. Both Jedi are stunned, but they have no choice.
In the enemy stronghold in Aldera, we quickly learn why Dooku gave the assignment to find Padme to Anakin and Obi-Wan. It's because the Separatists are unable to find Padme, who seemingly has disappeared. If she had been rescued by the Republic, she would be on the news, which means she is still somewhere in Aldera. Dooku reports to the hologram of his Master that he cannot find Padme. Dooku is then Force-choked by his Master. Dooku pleads to his Master, promising him that he will get her.
Meanwhile, the Alderaanian troops watch the HoloNet broadcast of the current Senate session. As a major progressive voting block, Alderaanians and Senator Bail Organa used to be against granting emergency powers to the Chancellor, but this invasion has changed their mind. Palpatine has firmly established himself as a wartime Chancellor. Through the hologram, Bail Organa gives a speech in favor of the amendment and votes for it, which sways the rest of the Senate to his side. The amendment has passed. Palpatine says, "I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!"
Meanwhile, a week has passed, and the trench warfare is ongoing. In Aldera, Corde--Padme's body double--is helping Padme hide in the underground subway tunnel. Corde leaves to get her more food and water but is then caught by the droids. The droids present her to Dooku. Corde is shocked to find that Jedi Master Dooku is the leader of the Separatist movement Dooku raises his hands and unleashes the Force lightning to torture her to open her mouth to locate Padme.
The newly created "Grand Army of the Republic" has arrived at Alderaan, wearing shining white armor. They are welcomed enthusiastically by the Alderaanian forces. Obi-Wan is surprised that the standing army has already been dispatched to warfare, so he tries to talk with them, but they seem... "different".
Anakin arrives, bearing "lunch", a cloth full of live insects and worms, which he casually reports he got from inside the CIS base after discovering an underground entrance into the city, running through the sewers beneath the protective shield. Obi-Wan scolds Anakin for being reckless. While the new Republic army installs the even more powerful cannons to bombard of the shield above ground, Anakin guides Obi-Wan the way through the sewers and into the underground levels of the city. Obi-Wan suspects Padme is dead at this point, but Anakin can sense her, due to the strong bond they formed during The Phantom Menace--he can feel she is holding his japor snippet tight. From there, they make their way to the shield generator chamber. Anakin wants to fight the droids, but Obi-Wan stops him. Obi-Wan simply blows up the shield generator by using small spherical bombs and pointing out that there are alternatives to fighting. With the shield down, the white-armored Republic troopers begin a full-scale attack on the city.
As Corde finally confesses to Dooku where Padme is hiding, the droids rush in to inform Dooku that the shield is deactivated. Dooku orders the droids to go after Padme while hurrying to flee.
The battle of Aldera is chaotic. The Republic troopers are aggressive and far more competent than the local planetary forces, dispatching the battle droids. Anakin rushes into the Separatist-ran POW camp alone to search for Padme. Instead, he finds a dying Cordé. She apologizes to Anakin, disheartened in thinking she had failed her duty to her mistress. She tells Padme is hiding in the underground subway tunnel of Aldera, and in her last grasp, tells him that Dooku is behind the Separatists. Anakin initially does not believe her, but there is no time to go and tell Obi-Wan about this. Anakin races to the underground tunnel. While Obi-Wan is looking for Anakin, he stumbles on the two corpses of the Republic troopers, whose helmets are cracked. He takes a closer look and discovers that these troopers have identical faces.
Anakin finds Padme, who has been hiding all these years. At first, she doesn't recognize him, for he has grown so much. Anakin is glad that she kept her word about keeping his japor snippet. However, the battle droids are rushing into the tunnel, and they both flee. Obi-Wan comes to rescue them. When Anakin is about to inform him of the last words of Padme's body double, "Master" Dooku is standing alongside Obi-Wan, listening to Anakin. Dooku asks him to hand Padme over to him. Anakin refuses, saying that he will be the one taking her to Coruscant. Obi-Wan allows him, for Anakin has been missing Padme for a long time. Anakin and Padme board his ship and leave Alderaan in haste.
Obi-Wan turns to Dooku to inform him that all Republic troopers are clones. Dooku pretends to be surprised. Bail suggests looking into Kamino--the civilization highly proficient in cloning technology.
Coruscant:
This is where Anakin and Obi-Wan's storylines diverge in two. Obi-Wan and Dooku arrive at Coruscant and visit the Archives. Kamino doesn't show up in any data. Dooku says, "If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist!" Dooku heads off, and Obi-Wan is not satisfied.
Obi-Wan visits Yoda currently training Younglings. The scene goes the same as the film's, except at the end, Master Dooku barges into the room and says Anakin has still yet to be returned to Coruscant with Padme. Yoda predicts Anakin must have gone to Tatooine. Obi-Wan is frustrated with his apprentice, complaining that Anakin is too reckless and refuses to obey his command.
Obi-Wan: "I realize now what you and Master Yoda knew from the beginning... the boy was too old to start the training and..."
Yoda: "Obi-Wan, have faith that take the right path he will."
Yoda surprisingly asks Obi-Wan to trust his apprentice rather than control him. This makes Obi-Wan rethink his relationship. In order to bridge the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan's arc is that he must see Anakin as a man and respect him. Obi-Wan forms a connection with him by understanding Anakin's point of view ("What I told you was true, from a certain point of view."). Obi-Wan realizes maybe the Jedi Code is too rigid, and a sense of duties and obligation alone can't make one a great Jedi. This character arc lends well to The Clone Wars TV series and Revenge of the Sith, in which Obi-Wan evolved into a more quippy, light-hearted character who has a drastically different personality from TPM and AOTC. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan would become more understanding of each other, and as a result, their clash at Mustafar becomes more heartwrenching.
Anyway, Yoda orders Obi-Wan to go to Kamino to investigate the Clone Army. Dooku, learning where Padme has gone, smiles. He contacts and sends his army of bounty hunters to Tatooine. Jango Fett is not the only bounty hunter Dooku hired. Dooku orders them to use Anakin's mother Shmi Skywalker as bait.
Kamino:
From here, Obi-Wan's plotline is pretty much identical to the film's. He investigates Kamino, learns it was the Jedi Master who ordered the creation of the clone army for the Republic to prepare for the war, figures out that the bounty hunter Jango Fett is the genetic template for the clones, then Obi-Wan fights and chases him to Geonosis.
Geonosis:
There, Obi-Wan discovers Dooku in the middle of the conversation with the Separatist leaders. He realizes Dooku is the true mastermind of the Separatist Confederacy, and the new Separatist army is amassing to attack the Republic systems.
Tatooine:
For Anakin's co-occurring storyline, it is also largely similar. Anakin and Padme discuss politics and democracy, and Padme's ideals. Anakin sees politics as a simple matter, "That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me", "Well, if it works...", as well as discussing Anakin's frustration with the Jedi Code. Anakin hates the Separatists because the slaver guilds have allied themselves to the Confederacy. Anakin keeps having a nightmare of her mother, and now she is dying in his dream.
Later, Padme awakes to find out that the ship has landed on Tatooine, not Coruscant. She is upset and argues with Anakin. He lied to her. He finally reveals what he learned about Dooku and says Tatooine is the safest location. Anakin believes the Jedi Council is compromised and can't trust it anymore, though Padme knows that is not the only reason. It is partially for Anakin to meet his mother again. His former owner Watto reveals that he sold Shmi to a moisture farmer named Cliegg Lars, who then freed and married her. They then get the Lars family, who tell Anakin that the Tusken raiders have abducted Shmi just recently. Padme allows him to leave her and track down the Tuskens, for she will be safe under the guard of the Lars family.
Anakin locates the campsite where one of Dooku's bounty hunters, having paid the Tuskens to kidnap Shmi, is torturing her in a tent. When the bounty hunter leaves, Anakin frees Shmi, who dies in his arms. The bounty hunter returns to the tent and is quickly apprehended by an enraged Anakin. Anakin "forces" him to make him confess who hired him. The bounty hunter says it is Dooku, and Anakin kills him after confirming his suspicion. Hearing the noise, the Tusken raiders surround the tent. Anakin massacres the entire tribe. Now, Anakin has personal stakes in defeating Dooku, and facing him is crucial in Anakin's arc in the story, unlike how he had no idea who Dooku even was in the film.
Anakin returns to the Lars homestead and finds out that the Lars family is held hostage by Dooku's bounty hunters. Anakin fights the bounty hunters to free Owen and Beau, but Cliegg is murdered. Despite Anakin's best efforts, the bounty hunters escape Tatooine with Padme to Geonosis. Anakin feels guilty about forsaking his duty and leaving her to the homestead.
Anakin races back to his ship, on which Anakin receives the message from Obi-Wan warning the Republic and the Council about Dooku and the imminent Separatist attack on the Republic. Anakin contacts the Council about what happened to Padme. Mace Windu orders Anakin to return to Coruscant. Don't do anything out of impulse. The Council will take care of it. Trust in the Council's judgment. Here, Anakin is facing two paths. Be a good, little, nice Jedi, and follow the Council's order, or chase after Dooku to save Padme and Obi-Wan. This is the point at which Anakin tests his resolve. Anakin makes a decision to go against the Jedi code (Attachment is forbidden) and get to Geonosis alone.
Geonosis:
Obi-Wan is held captive while Dooku comes along. Instead of Dooku revealing there is a Dark Lord of the Sith controlling the Republic (there is no reason for Dooku to spill the beans here), the confrontation with Dooku forces Obi-Wan to grow out of Qui-Gon Jinn's death. He should face the fact that his Master's Master has turned to the dark side because of the strict Jedi Code and the Republic's corruption. After all, Obi-Wan investigated the clone army, which was apparently commissioned by a member of the Jedi Council. And then the Republic will use the clone army--this immoral slave force--in the war. Then Dooku persuades Obi-Wan to join him. They both agree that they are dissatisfied with the ways the Republic and the Jedi Order handle things, so maybe Obi-Wan can see Dooku's point of view. Dooku should be a personification of what Anakin COULD become, concerning Obi-Wan that Anakin can succumb to the same fate as Dooku. This motivates Obi-Wan to gain some understanding with his apprentice Anakin.
From this point, the story is nearly identical to the movie. Anakin fights the Geonosians in the factory but also gets captured. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme are pushed to the execution arena (don't have Anakin and Padme kiss here) and fight the beasts. The Jedi Knights arrive to rescue.
Here's the crucial difference. Instead of Padmé safely boarding the gunships and escaping the arena battle with the Jedi and the clones, she gets captured by Dooku during the arena fight. Dooku holds Padmé as a hostage and announces it to the Jedi, stopping the arena battle. Dooku says he will kill her if the Jedi continue resisting. Anakin insists they should surrender, however, all the Jedi glance at each other and arrive at the same conclusion: they will fight. This fuels Anakin's resentment toward the Jedi.
At the last moment, the clones arrive, blasting and destroying the battle droids. Dooku takes Padmé and flees. He has another idea of what to do with her. The clones and the Jedi escape, and the Battle of Geonosis begins. Now, there are personal character-related stakes for Anakin. Anakin is adamant about chasing Dooku from the start of the battle. The battle is now an obstacle for Anakin to catch up with Dooku, blocking the gunship's path. Instead of the conflict between Anakin and Obi-Wan on the gunship being "stop the gunship to rescue Padmé fell on the desert", which ends up pointless in the story, now, the conflict is that Obi-Wan believes this is a trap to lure Anakin. Obi-Wan shouts at Anakin not to follow Dooku. But angered by the other Jedi's lack of care for Padmé during the arena fight, Anakin ignores his warning and heads to rescue Padmé alone.
Catching up to Dooku in the hangar, Anakin finds that Dooku is holding Padme captive. Dooku taunts Anakin by holding Padme in the air with the Force choke, which echoes what Anakin does to Padmé in Revenge of the Sith. Now, Anakin's rashed charge at Dooku makes more sense because there is a clearer trigger for Anakin to act this way. Dooku hurls Padmé away, and the lightsaber fight commences. During the duel, Dooku reveals that he is the one who ordered to torture of his mother. Anakin gets all the more angry and impulsive, and predictably, gets his hand chopped off.
Instead of Yoda arriving late to save Anakin, it should have been Obi-Wan arriving late. In the movie, you get a supposedly "Master versus Apprentice" dialogue between the two, and you don't feel anything because you don't even know Dooku was Yoda's apprentice beforehand. Yoda vs Dooku was not built up, but Obi-Wan vs Dooku was built up. This is a student of the student going against the old Master, and these two characters having the dialogue makes more sense.
The fighting between Obi-Wan and Dooku is fierce but cut short when Dooku brings down a pillar over Anakin, forcing Obi-Wan to break off his attack to save him. Dooku then moves to his escape ship, forcing Obi-Wan to make a choice: a mission--that is stopping Dooku and ending the entire Clone Wars--or Anakin's life. Sacrificing a few to save the many. Although Obi-Wan should pick the first option as a Jedi Knight of the Republic, he eventually chooses Anakin's life. Dooku escapes.
Coruscant:
After the battle, Dooku arrives at Coruscant to meet Sidious as in the film, but Dooku reports one more thing to Sidious. He says that Anakin has fallen to the dark side for the girl.
Coruscant is currently holding a massive military parade through the city, resembling Roman Triumph, to celebrate the victory over Geonosis, while Palpatine is publically revealing the existence of the clone army. The citizens love Palpatine and see the hope that the Republic might win the war. The Jedi will also join the parade, with each Knight leading a battalion of clone troopers.
Preparing to be part of the parade, Anakin and Obi-Wan, for the first time in the story, have a heart-to-heart conversation, not a rigid Master-Student lecture. Anakin realizes he has been too reckless. His brash act of confronting Dooku alone costs him his arm and he apologizes to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan then gives some respect to Anakin, for he has successfully protected Padme. In a way, Obi-Wan and Anakin go through the opposite character arcs. Obi-Wan changes from someone who supports Palpatine and, as he discovers the hidden conspiracies, to someone who is now against him and his emergency powers. Anakin, after witnessing what Dooku has done to his mother, is now looking for blood and vengeance against the Separatists--staunchly supporting more authoritarian measures to fight the war. This change goes alongside Anakin's embrace of more radical emotions.
Before Anakin and Obi-Wan depart to join the parade, Obi-Wan senses love between Anakin and Padme. Secretly, Padme kisses Anakin for the first time (No marriage as it comes across as too abrupt at this point).
As the Jedi march alongside the clone troopers, Obi-Wan secretly discusses with his Masters in the line his finding that it was likely Dooku who ordered the creation of the clone army for the Republic. Yoda and Mace Windu warn them to not reveal this secret to anyone else. They discuss if Dooku is the mysterious Sith Lord (Maul's Master) they were looking for... or maybe Dooku is the new apprentice of this mysterious Sith Lord. If there is another Sith Lord, he could be residing within the Republic's power structure. They found themselves fighting another war inside the Republic.
Palpatine oversees the parade from the top, while the citizens of the Republic cheer. Anakin gladly pledges his loyalty to the most powerful Chancellor in history, while Padme watches the parade with visible frustration as her efforts to stop Palpatine's emergency powers have utterly failed.
I tried to keep the general story elements the same. I focused on fixing what was already in the story rather than discarding it. I fleshed out the characters to be more active and get to have more choices in the decisions. The politics are more integrated into the character drama rather than being in the background. The character arcs for Anakin and Obi-Wan are clearer, with the climax concluding each arc. Instead of Anakin and Padme hiding on Naboo and just playing the patty cake for half of the film, the story is more aggressive and focuses on the war itself. Dooku's concept is utilized to the fullest as he manipulates the Jedi from within and firmly establishes him as Anakin's arch-villain. Padmé falling in love with Anakin makes more sense because she sees how far Anakin is willing to go to save her, especially in the climax. Anakin earns her love, not handed out to him. The romance is constantly developing to the end.
The qualm with the outline is how Anakin finds Padme in Aldera. Dooku sends Anakin and Obi-Wan to Alderaan so that they can find her for Dooku, only for Dooku to go to Alderaan himself and torture Padme's body double to learn about where Padme is. Dooku sending the Jedi then becomes pointless anyway. Another problem is that Padme only meets Anakin at the midpoint, so she doesn't interact with Anakin all that much, and the relationship doesn't get enough time and development.
Aside from those issues, I found the final outline to be more satisfying and tighter in my Episode 2 REDONE. Maybe sometime later someone would do a full rewrite treatment based on this outline lol.

This is not a plan for my REDONE project, but just an idea I had while I was rewatching Attack of the Clones and making some changes to Episode 2 REDONE.
A lot of influences and ideas Lucas had for Attack of the Clones were sound: a blooming love story within the political backdrop at the center of the civil war, Palpatine using the war to gain power, Anakin's disillusionment with the ways of the Jedi, a hidden web of conspiracies setting for the war, and Dooku as this Jedi renegade who has defected to the Separatists. It has a lot of cool ideas, which is why frustrating the film fumbles at materializing them.
Aside from the romance between Anakin and Padme, the major failing of Attack of the Clones is that Lucas fails to show the turmoil of people of the galaxy, which would create a condition for Palpatine to rise. It is part of the reason why the politics in this movie is so boring because it doesn't dramatize the politics. Game of Thrones showed the general audience can get into a political epic.
So I decided to make a new outline, one that is faithful to Lucas' vision, ideas, and influences, while fleshing them out to make a more coherent story, also taking some cues from The Empire Strikes Back.
I also borrowed from and built upon the AOTC fixes I have done in the past:
https://old.reddit.com/fixingmovies/comments/qoftgq/in_attack_of_the_clones_padm%C3%A9_should_have_been/
https://old.reddit.com/fixingmovies/comments/z5m5wf/in_the_dooku_duel_in_attack_of_the_clones_obiwan/
Crawl:
The galaxy is falling asunder. Thousands of solar systems have declared their intentions to leave the Galactic Republic to create the CONFEDERACY OF INDEPENDENT SYSTEMS.
This Separatist movement, supported by various conglomerates like the TRADE FEDERATION, mercilessly strikes back the crumbling Republic with the mass-produced Droid Armies.
Senator Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, is arriving at Alderaan to discuss the critical issue of granting Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers to assist the overwhelmed Jedi....
Alderaan:
The story begins with the right dab in the middle of the massive war that is yet to be called the "Clone Wars". We see Padme Amidala, now a Senator, arriving with her aide Cordé at the beautiful planet of Alderaan. After the Battle of Naboo, Padme Amidala became sort of a star--a prominent voice against the Separatist tyranny--but she is adamant against the Emergency Powers Act. This act is an amendment to the Galactic Constitution, which will grant Palpatine limitless powers, including bypassing the Senate to create a standing army to fight the Separatists. She meets Senator Bail Organa, the representative of Alderaan. Alderaan is a major progressive voting block, and Padme is here to unify the opposition against the constitutional amendment before the Senate votes on it. She has enough clouts and popularity to stop the amendment. Bail agrees with her that the emergency powers could be authoritarian, but he believes in the necessity of a centralized standing army.
As they discuss this matter, with Padme saying, "The day we stop believing democracy can work is the day we lose it", the meeting is adjourned abruptly when a city-wide alert is raised. They look outside to witness the Separatist battle fleet filling the sky, blinding the sunlight, and beginning a massive invasion of Alderaan. We switch to Count Dooku on the Separatist battleship (at this point, we don't see his face and learn his name), who reports to the hologram of his Master Darth Sidious that he has caught Senator Padme Amidala in the basket. Sidious smiles, "Good, good..."
Unknown Planet somewhere in the Outer Rim Territories:
Meanwhile, we switch to the battlefield on the other side of the galaxy. The local planetary military, under the command of the local government, is retreating from the relentless Droid Army. The Republic is continually losing the war, and we see the ineffectiveness of the planetary forces. Here, we see Anakin and Obi-Wan are commanding the withdrawal of their troops. Realizing some of the Republic forces are pinned down and on the verge of annihilation, Anakin disobeys Obi-Wan's orders to go to save the troops alone. In an act of courage, Anakin manages to save the troops and returns. As the Republic forces retreat, Obi-Wan scolds Anakin. With this, we understand Anakin's character--reckless but selflessly cares for his friends--and see his relationship with his Master Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan is struggling as a Master to Anakin Skywalker. This is because Obi-Wan didn't take Anakin because he has a connection with him. He was entrusted out of obligation and duty for his dead Master Qui-Gon Jinn (whose name does not even get mentioned in the movie). So obviously, it is no wonder their relationship seems broken. Anakin feels attachments and all the emotions the Jedi Code forbids. He thinks Obi-Wan is too strict and cold--only one-minded about missions and duties.
Coruscant:
As the Jedi head to Coruscant, Anakin has a nightmare of her mother Shmi Skywalker. She's still trapped on Tatooine as a slave, and he wonders what happened to her.
Anakin returns to Coruscant to earn a decoration for his service by the Jedi Council. Master Dooku, is seated as one of the prominent members of the Council (so it can be an actual twist when Dooku is later revealed to be a bad guy). He is on good terms with Obi-Wan and Anakin since he was Qui-Gon Jinn's Master. Chancellor Palpatine is here, too, congratulating Anakin for his heroic effort. Palpatine suggests giving Anakin a reward. Anakin asks for a leave to return to Tatooine to see his mother. Much to Anakin's dismay, the Council rejects this on the grounds that the Jedi should let go of their past and attachments. The Jedi, especially Padawans, are strictly under the discipline with no autonomy. They cannot go anywhere they want. Instead, Dooku decides to give Obi-Wan and Anakin a non-combat mission as a prize, which is to find Padme. The Alderaanians are currently unable to reach Padme. Their mission is to find her and bring her back safely.
Regards to the hotly controversial emergency powers, the Jedi Council, like the public, is divided on this issue. Obi-Wan and Dooku are supportive of the amendment. Both show their distaste toward the Senate and the politicians in handling the crisis, "Don't forget she's a politician. They're not to be trusted", "It's been my experience that Senators are only focused on pleasing those who fund their campaigns... and they are more than willing to forget the niceties of democracy to get those funds". This is why they are shown to be very much supportive of Palpatine's controversial policies that can be perceived as authoritarian. Palpatine gets stuff done. In contrast, Anakin is apolitical--he never cared about politics.
Alderaan:
Anakin and Obi-Wan depart to a ravaged Alderaan. The battle is ongoing, and the Alderaanian forces seem to be unable to beat back the Droid Army. Here, the Jedi meet Senator Bail Organa for the first time, who is overseeing the Alderaanian forces. The battle resembles the Civil War battle from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, in which both sides are dug in the trenches and unable to penetrate each other's defense line. Bail informs the Jedi that Padme's emergency powers talk was held in Aldera in ruins, currently occupied by the Separatists, and she would be stuck there--under their captive or hidden out of the enemy sight. The Separatists are entrenched in Aldera--a city protected by a massive energy shield. Bail informs the Jedi that they are on schedule and under their continued bombardment of the city, the enemy shields would be overwhelmed in a further month. Both Jedi are stunned, but they have no choice.
In the enemy stronghold in Aldera, we quickly learn why Dooku gave the assignment to find Padme to Anakin and Obi-Wan. It's because the Separatists are unable to find Padme, who seemingly has disappeared. If she had been rescued by the Republic, she would be on the news, which means she is still somewhere in Aldera. Dooku reports to the hologram of his Master that he cannot find Padme. Dooku is then Force-choked by his Master. Dooku pleads to his Master, promising him that he will get her.
Meanwhile, the Alderaanian troops watch the HoloNet broadcast of the current Senate session. As a major progressive voting block, Alderaanians and Senator Bail Organa used to be against granting emergency powers to the Chancellor, but this invasion has changed their mind. Palpatine has firmly established himself as a wartime Chancellor. Through the hologram, Bail Organa gives a speech in favor of the amendment and votes for it, which sways the rest of the Senate to his side. The amendment has passed. Palpatine says, "I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!"
Meanwhile, a week has passed, and the trench warfare is ongoing. In Aldera, Corde--Padme's body double--is helping Padme hide in the underground subway tunnel. Corde leaves to get her more food and water but is then caught by the droids. The droids present her to Dooku. Corde is shocked to find that Jedi Master Dooku is the leader of the Separatist movement Dooku raises his hands and unleashes the Force lightning to torture her to open her mouth to locate Padme.
The newly created "Grand Army of the Republic" has arrived at Alderaan, wearing shining white armor. They are welcomed enthusiastically by the Alderaanian forces. Obi-Wan is surprised that the standing army has already been dispatched to warfare, so he tries to talk with them, but they seem... "different".
Anakin arrives, bearing "lunch", a cloth full of live insects and worms, which he casually reports he got from inside the CIS base after discovering an underground entrance into the city, running through the sewers beneath the protective shield. Obi-Wan scolds Anakin for being reckless. While the new Republic army installs the even more powerful cannons to bombard of the shield above ground, Anakin guides Obi-Wan the way through the sewers and into the underground levels of the city. Obi-Wan suspects Padme is dead at this point, but Anakin can sense her, due to the strong bond they formed during The Phantom Menace--he can feel she is holding his japor snippet tight. From there, they make their way to the shield generator chamber. Anakin wants to fight the droids, but Obi-Wan stops him. Obi-Wan simply blows up the shield generator by using small spherical bombs and pointing out that there are alternatives to fighting. With the shield down, the white-armored Republic troopers begin a full-scale attack on the city.
As Corde finally confesses to Dooku where Padme is hiding, the droids rush in to inform Dooku that the shield is deactivated. Dooku orders the droids to go after Padme while hurrying to flee.
The battle of Aldera is chaotic. The Republic troopers are aggressive and far more competent than the local planetary forces, dispatching the battle droids. Anakin rushes into the Separatist-ran POW camp alone to search for Padme. Instead, he finds a dying Cordé. She apologizes to Anakin, disheartened in thinking she had failed her duty to her mistress. She tells Padme is hiding in the underground subway tunnel of Aldera, and in her last grasp, tells him that Dooku is behind the Separatists. Anakin initially does not believe her, but there is no time to go and tell Obi-Wan about this. Anakin races to the underground tunnel. While Obi-Wan is looking for Anakin, he stumbles on the two corpses of the Republic troopers, whose helmets are cracked. He takes a closer look and discovers that these troopers have identical faces.
Anakin finds Padme, who has been hiding all these years. At first, she doesn't recognize him, for he has grown so much. Anakin is glad that she kept her word about keeping his japor snippet. However, the battle droids are rushing into the tunnel, and they both flee. Obi-Wan comes to rescue them. When Anakin is about to inform him of the last words of Padme's body double, "Master" Dooku is standing alongside Obi-Wan, listening to Anakin. Dooku asks him to hand Padme over to him. Anakin refuses, saying that he will be the one taking her to Coruscant. Obi-Wan allows him, for Anakin has been missing Padme for a long time. Anakin and Padme board his ship and leave Alderaan in haste.
Obi-Wan turns to Dooku to inform him that all Republic troopers are clones. Dooku pretends to be surprised. Bail suggests looking into Kamino--the civilization highly proficient in cloning technology.
Coruscant:
This is where Anakin and Obi-Wan's storylines diverge in two. Obi-Wan and Dooku arrive at Coruscant and visit the Archives. Kamino doesn't show up in any data. Dooku says, "If an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist!" Dooku heads off, and Obi-Wan is not satisfied.
Obi-Wan visits Yoda currently training Younglings. The scene goes the same as the film's, except at the end, Master Dooku barges into the room and says Anakin has still yet to be returned to Coruscant with Padme. Yoda predicts Anakin must have gone to Tatooine. Obi-Wan is frustrated with his apprentice, complaining that Anakin is too reckless and refuses to obey his command.
Obi-Wan: "I realize now what you and Master Yoda knew from the beginning... the boy was too old to start the training and..."
Yoda: "Obi-Wan, have faith that take the right path he will."
Yoda surprisingly asks Obi-Wan to trust his apprentice rather than control him. This makes Obi-Wan rethink his relationship. In order to bridge the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan's arc is that he must see Anakin as a man and respect him. Obi-Wan forms a connection with him by understanding Anakin's point of view ("What I told you was true, from a certain point of view."). Obi-Wan realizes maybe the Jedi Code is too rigid, and a sense of duties and obligation alone can't make one a great Jedi. This character arc lends well to The Clone Wars TV series and Revenge of the Sith, in which Obi-Wan evolved into a more quippy, light-hearted character who has a drastically different personality from TPM and AOTC. Both Anakin and Obi-Wan would become more understanding of each other, and as a result, their clash at Mustafar becomes more heartwrenching.
Anyway, Yoda orders Obi-Wan to go to Kamino to investigate the Clone Army. Dooku, learning where Padme has gone, smiles. He contacts and sends his army of bounty hunters to Tatooine. Jango Fett is not the only bounty hunter Dooku hired. Dooku orders them to use Anakin's mother Shmi Skywalker as bait.
Kamino:
From here, Obi-Wan's plotline is pretty much identical to the film's. He investigates Kamino, learns it was the Jedi Master who ordered the creation of the clone army for the Republic to prepare for the war, figures out that the bounty hunter Jango Fett is the genetic template for the clones, then Obi-Wan fights and chases him to Geonosis.
Geonosis:
There, Obi-Wan discovers Dooku in the middle of the conversation with the Separatist leaders. He realizes Dooku is the true mastermind of the Separatist Confederacy, and the new Separatist army is amassing to attack the Republic systems.
Tatooine:
For Anakin's co-occurring storyline, it is also largely similar. Anakin and Padme discuss politics and democracy, and Padme's ideals. Anakin sees politics as a simple matter, "That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me", "Well, if it works...", as well as discussing Anakin's frustration with the Jedi Code. Anakin hates the Separatists because the slaver guilds have allied themselves to the Confederacy. Anakin keeps having a nightmare of her mother, and now she is dying in his dream.
Later, Padme awakes to find out that the ship has landed on Tatooine, not Coruscant. She is upset and argues with Anakin. He lied to her. He finally reveals what he learned about Dooku and says Tatooine is the safest location. Anakin believes the Jedi Council is compromised and can't trust it anymore, though Padme knows that is not the only reason. It is partially for Anakin to meet his mother again. His former owner Watto reveals that he sold Shmi to a moisture farmer named Cliegg Lars, who then freed and married her. They then get the Lars family, who tell Anakin that the Tusken raiders have abducted Shmi just recently. Padme allows him to leave her and track down the Tuskens, for she will be safe under the guard of the Lars family.
Anakin locates the campsite where one of Dooku's bounty hunters, having paid the Tuskens to kidnap Shmi, is torturing her in a tent. When the bounty hunter leaves, Anakin frees Shmi, who dies in his arms. The bounty hunter returns to the tent and is quickly apprehended by an enraged Anakin. Anakin "forces" him to make him confess who hired him. The bounty hunter says it is Dooku, and Anakin kills him after confirming his suspicion. Hearing the noise, the Tusken raiders surround the tent. Anakin massacres the entire tribe. Now, Anakin has personal stakes in defeating Dooku, and facing him is crucial in Anakin's arc in the story, unlike how he had no idea who Dooku even was in the film.
Anakin returns to the Lars homestead and finds out that the Lars family is held hostage by Dooku's bounty hunters. Anakin fights the bounty hunters to free Owen and Beau, but Cliegg is murdered. Despite Anakin's best efforts, the bounty hunters escape Tatooine with Padme to Geonosis. Anakin feels guilty about forsaking his duty and leaving her to the homestead.
Anakin races back to his ship, on which Anakin receives the message from Obi-Wan warning the Republic and the Council about Dooku and the imminent Separatist attack on the Republic. Anakin contacts the Council about what happened to Padme. Mace Windu orders Anakin to return to Coruscant. Don't do anything out of impulse. The Council will take care of it. Trust in the Council's judgment. Here, Anakin is facing two paths. Be a good, little, nice Jedi, and follow the Council's order, or chase after Dooku to save Padme and Obi-Wan. This is the point at which Anakin tests his resolve. Anakin makes a decision to go against the Jedi code (Attachment is forbidden) and get to Geonosis alone.
Geonosis:
Obi-Wan is held captive while Dooku comes along. Instead of Dooku revealing there is a Dark Lord of the Sith controlling the Republic (there is no reason for Dooku to spill the beans here), the confrontation with Dooku forces Obi-Wan to grow out of Qui-Gon Jinn's death. He should face the fact that his Master's Master has turned to the dark side because of the strict Jedi Code and the Republic's corruption. After all, Obi-Wan investigated the clone army, which was apparently commissioned by a member of the Jedi Council. And then the Republic will use the clone army--this immoral slave force--in the war. Then Dooku persuades Obi-Wan to join him. They both agree that they are dissatisfied with the ways the Republic and the Jedi Order handle things, so maybe Obi-Wan can see Dooku's point of view. Dooku should be a personification of what Anakin COULD become, concerning Obi-Wan that Anakin can succumb to the same fate as Dooku. This motivates Obi-Wan to gain some understanding with his apprentice Anakin.
From this point, the story is nearly identical to the movie. Anakin fights the Geonosians in the factory but also gets captured. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padme are pushed to the execution arena (don't have Anakin and Padme kiss here) and fight the beasts. The Jedi Knights arrive to rescue.
Here's the crucial difference. Instead of Padmé safely boarding the gunships and escaping the arena battle with the Jedi and the clones, she gets captured by Dooku during the arena fight. Dooku holds Padmé as a hostage and announces it to the Jedi, stopping the arena battle. Dooku says he will kill her if the Jedi continue resisting. Anakin insists they should surrender, however, all the Jedi glance at each other and arrive at the same conclusion: they will fight. This fuels Anakin's resentment toward the Jedi.
At the last moment, the clones arrive, blasting and destroying the battle droids. Dooku takes Padmé and flees. He has another idea of what to do with her. The clones and the Jedi escape, and the Battle of Geonosis begins. Now, there are personal character-related stakes for Anakin. Anakin is adamant about chasing Dooku from the start of the battle. The battle is now an obstacle for Anakin to catch up with Dooku, blocking the gunship's path. Instead of the conflict between Anakin and Obi-Wan on the gunship being "stop the gunship to rescue Padmé fell on the desert", which ends up pointless in the story, now, the conflict is that Obi-Wan believes this is a trap to lure Anakin. Obi-Wan shouts at Anakin not to follow Dooku. But angered by the other Jedi's lack of care for Padmé during the arena fight, Anakin ignores his warning and heads to rescue Padmé alone.
Catching up to Dooku in the hangar, Anakin finds that Dooku is holding Padme captive. Dooku taunts Anakin by holding Padme in the air with the Force choke, which echoes what Anakin does to Padmé in Revenge of the Sith. Now, Anakin's rashed charge at Dooku makes more sense because there is a clearer trigger for Anakin to act this way. Dooku hurls Padmé away, and the lightsaber fight commences. During the duel, Dooku reveals that he is the one who ordered to torture of his mother. Anakin gets all the more angry and impulsive, and predictably, gets his hand chopped off.
Instead of Yoda arriving late to save Anakin, it should have been Obi-Wan arriving late. In the movie, you get a supposedly "Master versus Apprentice" dialogue between the two, and you don't feel anything because you don't even know Dooku was Yoda's apprentice beforehand. Yoda vs Dooku was not built up, but Obi-Wan vs Dooku was built up. This is a student of the student going against the old Master, and these two characters having the dialogue makes more sense.
The fighting between Obi-Wan and Dooku is fierce but cut short when Dooku brings down a pillar over Anakin, forcing Obi-Wan to break off his attack to save him. Dooku then moves to his escape ship, forcing Obi-Wan to make a choice: a mission--that is stopping Dooku and ending the entire Clone Wars--or Anakin's life. Sacrificing a few to save the many. Although Obi-Wan should pick the first option as a Jedi Knight of the Republic, he eventually chooses Anakin's life. Dooku escapes.
Coruscant:
After the battle, Dooku arrives at Coruscant to meet Sidious as in the film, but Dooku reports one more thing to Sidious. He says that Anakin has fallen to the dark side for the girl.
Coruscant is currently holding a massive military parade through the city, resembling Roman Triumph, to celebrate the victory over Geonosis, while Palpatine is publically revealing the existence of the clone army. The citizens love Palpatine and see the hope that the Republic might win the war. The Jedi will also join the parade, with each Knight leading a battalion of clone troopers.
Preparing to be part of the parade, Anakin and Obi-Wan, for the first time in the story, have a heart-to-heart conversation, not a rigid Master-Student lecture. Anakin realizes he has been too reckless. His brash act of confronting Dooku alone costs him his arm and he apologizes to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan then gives some respect to Anakin, for he has successfully protected Padme. In a way, Obi-Wan and Anakin go through the opposite character arcs. Obi-Wan changes from someone who supports Palpatine and, as he discovers the hidden conspiracies, to someone who is now against him and his emergency powers. Anakin, after witnessing what Dooku has done to his mother, is now looking for blood and vengeance against the Separatists--staunchly supporting more authoritarian measures to fight the war. This change goes alongside Anakin's embrace of more radical emotions.
Before Anakin and Obi-Wan depart to join the parade, Obi-Wan senses love between Anakin and Padme. Secretly, Padme kisses Anakin for the first time (No marriage as it comes across as too abrupt at this point).
As the Jedi march alongside the clone troopers, Obi-Wan secretly discusses with his Masters in the line his finding that it was likely Dooku who ordered the creation of the clone army for the Republic. Yoda and Mace Windu warn them to not reveal this secret to anyone else. They discuss if Dooku is the mysterious Sith Lord (Maul's Master) they were looking for... or maybe Dooku is the new apprentice of this mysterious Sith Lord. If there is another Sith Lord, he could be residing within the Republic's power structure. They found themselves fighting another war inside the Republic.
Palpatine oversees the parade from the top, while the citizens of the Republic cheer. Anakin gladly pledges his loyalty to the most powerful Chancellor in history, while Padme watches the parade with visible frustration as her efforts to stop Palpatine's emergency powers have utterly failed.
I tried to keep the general story elements the same. I focused on fixing what was already in the story rather than discarding it. I fleshed out the characters to be more active and get to have more choices in the decisions. The politics are more integrated into the character drama rather than being in the background. The character arcs for Anakin and Obi-Wan are clearer, with the climax concluding each arc. Instead of Anakin and Padme hiding on Naboo and just playing the patty cake for half of the film, the story is more aggressive and focuses on the war itself. Dooku's concept is utilized to the fullest as he manipulates the Jedi from within and firmly establishes him as Anakin's arch-villain. Padmé falling in love with Anakin makes more sense because she sees how far Anakin is willing to go to save her, especially in the climax. Anakin earns her love, not handed out to him. The romance is constantly developing to the end.
The qualm with the outline is how Anakin finds Padme in Aldera. Dooku sends Anakin and Obi-Wan to Alderaan so that they can find her for Dooku, only for Dooku to go to Alderaan himself and torture Padme's body double to learn about where Padme is. Dooku sending the Jedi then becomes pointless anyway. Another problem is that Padme only meets Anakin at the midpoint, so she doesn't interact with Anakin all that much, and the relationship doesn't get enough time and development.
Aside from those issues, I found the final outline to be more satisfying and tighter in my Episode 2 REDONE. Maybe sometime later someone would do a full rewrite treatment based on this outline lol.

I have repeatedly encountered the claim that chain-mail was used by vedic era (1500-900 bce ) indians. This has been made even by respectable historians like rs sharma and has been asserted by several people on this subreddit like u/maharajadhirajasawai
Most of the evidence for chain-mail in vedic times is derived from a passage of the rigveda referencing the armour known to them as "varman". The problem with this is that those historians such as mr sharma who first asserted use of chainmail relied on old translations of the vedas by late-colonial sources. Most sources from the victorian period use the term "mail" very incorrectly. By misinterpreting medieval sources, they created historically nonexistent abominations such as "tegulated mail", "double mail" and so on. Also it is worth noting that rs sharma was, though a prolific and learned historian, not a military specialist and could hsve unwarily accepted these translations.
Also, famously when writing about the biblical goliath's armour in relation to bronze scale armour found in excavations, old school historians referred to it as "mail". So in summary, those historians that translated this term used the term mail/maille in non-specific and improper ways, all their scholarship about it was flawed.
All the cultures associated with ancestors of indo aryans such as sintashta culture, yamnaya culture and their successors such as scythians, alans, sarmatians and other pontic steppe nomads were not known to use mail prior to roman contact but were avid users of scale armour. Many wall paintings and reliefs also suggest use of this armour in ancient india. Hence, i suspect that mail must have been unknown in vedic india and scale was used instead.
As per most mainstream historians, mail was only invented by the celtic la tene culture in 600-500 bce. As a result, unless it were to be invented independently in 2nd millenium bce india, there is no chance of it having been used. And if someone asserts that this was indeed the case, the obvious question follows:- why did it not spread outside india ? Historically mail armour was rapidly adopted after its invention by celts to romans, greek thureophoroi/thorakitai and germanic tribes. India at vedic times included regions like kamboja and gandhara close to persia from where mail, if it was indeed invented back then, could easily spread to elam, bablyonia or asyria. It would have been rapidly adopted as revolutionary technology. Yet several centuries after the composition of the hymns in question, the mainstay of middle eastern armour was still scale and/or cloth/leather protection. Mail superseded scale armour in central asia, nusantara and japan in medieval era , so if it was really there during vedic times it would have quickly diffused into other areas.
One interesting issue with this king purushottam's armour in the battle of hydaspes. Afaik most scholars, including modern ones, mention him as werimg chainmail in this pivotal battle. This creates three possibilites:-
1) Mail was indeed indigenous to india, which runs into the aforementioned issues.
2) Somehow, mail technology diffused all the way from celts to india. This is even more implausible and ridiculous than the previous one, considering the distance involved, but perhaps indians in achaemenid service campaigning in greece/macedonia could have acquired it ?
3) Anachronism:- The most likely one in my opinion. This information mainly comes from arrian, a roman writer relying upon greek sources. In his time, the majority of roman soldiers wore lorica hamata or mail. Perhaps he was anachronistically referring to porus' armor inspired by contemporary fashions ?
Also, it is worthwhile to note that he refers to greaves and helmets among the indian warriors in the same passage. While these are common equipment for graeco-roman warriors, in india for some reason torso armour was given first preference. I say this because many paintings, reliefs and so on such as at ajanta show soldiers in torso armour (scale or quilted jacket) , helmets and greaves are rare in indian art. I know of the former solely from nagarjunakonda and the latter not at all. By contrast, in the graeco- roman world even for ordinary soldiers, the first armour to enter a soldiers kit would be a helmet and atleast a right-leg-greave, along with small bucklers and pectoral slabs/triple disc cuirasses. This unusual reference to armour is also a point in the favour of the theory that arrian was writing based on his own society's preferences in protection.
Also as a sidenote, i wonder why there was such a radical difference in priorities in armour for india and the classical world. Is it due to noble codes of dharmic warfare which demeaned below the belt attacks as in the Mahabharata ? Or did greater prevalence of slings in mediterranean result in greater emphasis on protection of extremities ?

There seem to be no military surplus in the area, does anyone know what I can do with two full bag of OCP uniform and fire retardant suit? I was thinking of just giving it to good will, unless someone here want them. They are small size.

Hey, been writing this for a while. Got a dozen chapters at the moment. All of whom are interviews from veterans after a global war between humanity and aliens.
The premise is that after a short conflict/flashpoint between NATO and Russia in the baltics, that region becomes incredibly militarized as both sides pile up army units preparing for an inevitable conflict in the near future. Then you have meteors hitting Lithuania and Latvia. Which turns out were carrying an unknown Alien race which attempted to desperately colonize earth after their home planet was rendered inhabitable.
This is but one of the chapters. Fyi when they refer to crabs, they are talking about the alien cannon fodder units, 1 to 3m tall bipedal beings that have the face of crustaceans.
Feel free to give me any criticism you'd like. This is just a taste of what I'm working, if people are interested I will share more.

November 2034, Gdansk. European Federation

Pzschemek courteously welcomes me into his apartment, gently balancing his half-asleep young boy in one arm as he opens the door. The 34th floor of this public housing tower was completed just a year ago. As a combat veteran, the governement paid half of the price on the already affordable apartment. Since the official end of hostilities and the remarkable population surge, these towering structures, inspired by their Asian counterpart, have sprouted in nearly every remaining major city across the continent. Having seen combat from the start all the way to the end, I was referred to him by the head of the Polish Army Land Forces who was his battalion commander during the start of the war.
I'm offered a seat on the living room sofa, amidst scattered toys and clothes strewn about. He settles across from me, his son peacefully asleep in his arms, after preparing coffee for us.
A veteran of the war, he had seen combat all across Poland as a tank commander.

"When I began my training, we operated with the PT-91, an upgraded Soviet-designed T-72—sturdy, but we viewed them as deathtraps. Just imagine our optimism when my battalion received our first Leopards 2a7. Transitioning from a 1980s Soviet tank to modern german, American and ever Korean tanks—before the war in Ukraine, even entertaining such a notion aloud would have warranted a psychological evaluation. After a year or so. I knew that thing inside and out. It had short comings but it was a beauty.

He points to a frame on the wall—a cutout of a newspaper front page. It depicts him and his other crew members atop their tank ‘Sokoly’ written on its cannon, with a destroyed tripod lying on the floor behind them, the backdrop a sight of a ravaged city. With the title; “Our boys took Vilnius!"
"We made the front page of Gazeta Wyborcza with that picture. Our company commander sent it in. My parents hadn't heard from me in weeks, and one day, he recognized me on the front page at a news stand."
His face lights up with a warm smile.
"We hit the road five hours after the first landings. My vehicle was still getting fueled when I drove into our base, rushing to the briefing room in my jeans and rain jacket. I was expecting orders to be to rush to the Belarusian border or help out our guys in Lithuania to fend of the russians. Instead, our company commander starts talking about visitors from another world, how the info keeps pouring in every minute, but everything's still up in the air. We didn’t believe him until we saw the footage of the meteor landings, or air force footage from the airstrikes on beings we didn’t even know could exist. That one footage from that tank station, those crabs walking in and shooting all those civilians really set us off. That segment where one crab ripped out the arm of a dead man to make sure he was dead must have filled us with hate. Even do we didn’t know who or what they were. We didn’t ask too many questions. You’d expect us to yell out stuff in the likes of “Have we tried to make contact with them? What is the United Nations saying? From what planet are they?” but the only questions that could be heard was “Did the 2-5 tank get its tracks fixed? How much water should we take? Do we get our shells here or the TAA?”
“We were scared don’t get me wrong but I’m still proud of my boys, Its been a while but we still have contact with each other. Last summer I was the best man at my loader’s wedding.”
After laying down his boy, who had just woken up, he watches as the little one instantly grabs a toy police car and starts playing with it. Pzshemek gazes at his son, lost in thought, as he happily engages with his toy.

"We spent five hours on the road, with our tanks hitched onto trucks. When we finally reached our deployment area, chaos was everywhere. The roads were packed with cars from the north—Polish, Lithuanian, even Russian and Belarussian plates. People crammed into buses, I even saw a truck with an empty container but packed with civilians inside. On one van, boys sat on top, like scenes from trains in India. It's a miracle we only arrived an hour late. In Suwalki, we turned an Ikea parking lot into a makeshift FOB. Half of it was filled with troops fresh back from Lithuania and the border. Fresh might not be the right word. They were ravaged, they sat in silences. Nearly all with bandages or injuries of some sorts. The heavily wounded were being treated in tents and civilian ambulances. The dead layed in rows and rows of bodybags. They had commandeered one of or trench building vehicles to dig a mass grave for them. Helicopters landed, unloaded countless men and they loaded the helis to the brim with the injured. Tents and tents of make shift hospitals. More and more troops arrived. They looked like they’ve been to hell. I remember at one time my gaze met one of the men. I was looking around until I saw him looking at me. He was sitting on a stretcher being treated by a paramedic, his chest and arms were burned black. He was staring at me. I don’t know if it was the morphine or the shock, his gaze wouldn’t leave me. Fighter jets kept buzzing us. On our way to bomb targets and to slow the advance of the crabs down as much as they could. I was confident on our way there but the sight of all those defeated man made me want to empty my guts. We got called to a tent to get a briefing on the situation. There was a white board with grainy pictures of what we could expect. Even drawings. It was the Polish military attaché to Lithuania himself who gave the briefing to us. He looked like he had been to hell. I learned later he had to be restrained with the help of punches and shoved into the last helicopter out of Vilnius by his men.”
“What did he discuss?”
"We're in the dark, and we're counting on you to keep us informed as you hold the line. My English doesn't do it justice, but that was the last thing he said before we set out. We knew more different type of enemy assets would emerge as they settled in. Turns out, our drones spotted them digging into the meteors they landed in. As we left the FOB, they were loading everything onto anything with a motor and wheels. They didn't anticipate us holding our ground. Now, that's what I call motivation.”
Our chat got interrupted when Pszemek's wife walking into the apartment, decked out in nurse scrubs and juggling grocery bags. Pszemek jumped up to help her out, and they headed to the hallway, chatting away in Polish. Before she disappeared into the dimly lit bedroom, they stole a quick kiss.
“She has the night shift.” He said coldly as he put away the groceries. “We got on our tanks, our entire company made it and we were lined up platoon by platoon.
I closed the hatch, sat down, put my helmet on. My loader who also was my assistant of sorts. Installed the radios, helped copy the maps our lieutenant got, made coffee or passed drinks. He gave me a thumbs up, it was our signal and it meant we had radio communications with everyone that mattered. I pressed the push to talk of my microphone. “Everyone in position? Sound off!” I tried to say firmly and calmly. I knew back then it wasn’t the time to show any fear to my boys.
“Driver ready!” One voice yelled loudly. “Gunner ready!” followed by “Loader ready!” we set off right after that
At Suwalki we had to hold the highway entering the city from the north. Nothing particular, just fields and roads. We would have excelled there if we faced anything other than that. As dawn broke. The air strikes and artillery lured closer and closer. Along with our reconnaissance elements on the radio notifying us every time they got one kilometer closer. We could just sit there, it took us five minutes to mark and call out points of interests in that field so that we could communicate quickly during the battle and then we counted down the kilometers between us and them. Some men smoked, wrote letters. My gunner, a young guy he must have been 19 back then. He opened the hatch suddenly to vomit outside. Our nerves were all over the place. We nearly shot our recon troops as they speeded through our lines. They rushed through us and took cover behind us. They had done their job warning us and coordinating airstrikes. I told my boys it was our moment to shine. That whatever may walk,run,crawl over the border that we were the Polish anvil set on stopping them. We sat at two kilometers from the first woodline. We had infantry in the woods to our west and east. We had the open fields. We had to stop them or win time for the folks in Suwalki. But this wasn’t Lithuania, Latvia or Estonia. This was Poland. We wouldn’t give them an inch. We all grew up listening to our grandparents talking about what the Nazis and Soviets did to them and to our country.
At first, it was lone crabs on that wood line. They moved from tree to tree. We could see their silhouettes on the thermal sights. As more of those crab joined them we didn’t bother to shoot. We called in the mortar platoon to take care of them. Even after the mortars landed and took care of the first ones, their numbers grew. Then when there mobs of them we called in the 155mm artillery. It turned that forest. We felt the shockwaves as it blasted them. Trees were shredded and their pieces sent hundreds of meter away. Then we heard the first rumble of the beetles. I still have no idea why they didn’t appear on my thermals with all the heat they were carrying inside. If it wasn’t for the dawn and the reflection of the moonlight I might not have seen it until it was on top of me. Those things were as big as an apartment block. I still can't wrap my head around how those beasts survived a journey across galaxies. Must be why they were so darn hard to kill. We had no idea how they fought, how fast they could move. We called them beetles because it was the only thing earth like we could remotely compare them to in shape. I felt my heart race when I switched to normal sight and saw one of them move. I was looking right at it yet it appeared black as the solid on my thermal heat sight. There must have been six of them pushing that field alone. Against twelve of our tanks and three platoon’s worth of infantrymen and IFVs, you'd think we could've held them. But when they carpet-bombed us with fire, everyone lost it. Those beasts opened their mouth as their throat expanded, the fire inside of that could hurt to look at if you watched it with the naked eye. We didn’t know what to expect, but them spitting magma on us wasn’t on our bingo list so to say. Sure, they were two hundred meters short, but everyone outside of tanks must've felt the heat. They fired what could only be described as ropes of magma all in unison. The infantry platoon beside us, even the most ‘gung ho’ grunts who had had time to dig trenches, said ‘fuck that’ did a 180 and sprinted back a few hundred meters. Our platoon commander was swearing up a storm on the radio, trying to get their commander to get his men in order. Can't blame them. We opened fire right after their attempt to cremate us. I told my gunner to aim for the head and fire. Even with the shock of the 122mm armor-piercing shell hitting it, the thing just staggered and kept moving. Even in the tank, with all that armor and my ear protection, I could still hear my colleagues unloading on them. Again and again I ordered my gunner to go for the head. I still don’t know how they survived the kinetic shock alone of a shell like that hitting them. Later on in the war we learned that it gave them those weird types of concussions that made them act all weird, made them even attack their own side and such. But at the time, you can imagine me sitting there looking at them eating a tank shell like it was nothing. One shell hit its upper back. We saw the shell ricochet of its back and fly god knows where in the horizon behind it. My loader was grabbing shells and loading them in the breech at a rythm he could have gotten a medal for that alone. They were getting closer. The beetles and the crabs moving in with them. They spit fire again in unison. This time they were right on the mark. I heard the commander of the tank on my left yell in the radio as his tank ate hot magma. They were safe for now on the inside but the panic it instilled, there was nothing like it. Keep in mind, we still had 155mm artillery landing, it didn’t seem to be bothered by it even do the crabs next to those things were turned into moshed potatoes by the shrapnel and shock blast.
Pszemek got up suddenly to move his kid away from the kitchen as he tried to grab a hold of the hot coffee pot.
“little devil” he said silently.
“When I realized we couldn’t pierce it from the front I ordered by gunner to go for its knee caps. He didn’t hesitate and put its sight on it. The beetle was moving slowly enough for him to aim. My loader, exhausted from carrying shell after shell yelled out “GOTOWY” with a blood curling yell right before my gunner pulled the trigger on the joystick. The ignition on the shell shook the tank as it always did. It’s like a giant punch that makes the whole vehicle jolt backward violently. You can feel the force ripple through the tank, and everything inside shakes for a moment before it steadies again thanks to the suspension. The shell hit it right on the mark. The beast lost its footing. It crashed face-down, crushing a few crabs beneath it who were taking cover under it. It took a few moments for the creature to rise on another leg. Sharp as a fox, my gunner aimed for the first leg on the opposite side and fired another armor piercing shell through the meaty split between its strong carapace. The devil was down. With its front legs disabled, it had no balance. Instinctively, I grabbed the radio. The radio was buzzing with "NO EFFECT ON THE TARGET" and "LIEUTENANT, LET'S GET OUTTA HERE, FOR GOD'S SAKE." I shouted at my colleagues to aim for the kneecaps to slow them down. It got everyone to shut up and focus at the task at hand.



One by one, the beetles crashed in the mud. Don’t get me wrong, they kept shooting their magma at us. My tank got some aswell. It cooked our thermal sights and lazer warning receivers instantly. But since our engine was spared we just had to reverse back twenty meters and we were alright. We were speeding at 30km/h in reverse, I was praying there wouldn’t be a confused 20 year old infantry man end up under our tracks. The beetles were everything but precise. They even hit their own crabs as they desperately spat fire. The amount of which was drastically lower than earlier, their fuel tank just like ours were running low. One brave bastard on the radio yelled out for us to wait for it to fire and then hit it right in the mouth. That’s literally a tactic out of a video game. We did as he told. My gunner was with his sight right on what can be described as its mouth. His knee shaked in anticipation of the shot. I was looking at the gunner sight through my screen. As it opened its mouth, I didn’t even have time to yell “FIRE” that my gunner had already unleashed a high explosive shell down that thing’s throat.”
Pszemek looked at his boy with a warm smile as he thought back at one of the few good events of that fateful night.
“The devil exploded, the flash was so bright it lit up the interior of our tank through the periscopes. For a second I could see the exhausted look on my loader sweaty face. The fire gulf must have taken out god knows how many of the crabs taking shelter near it. My entire platoon followed suit and before long the entire field lit up with the explosions of those devils. I heard later from the folks in Suwalki that they saw the flashes of light all the way back there. One by one we took them out like that.
With the beetles out of the picture, we made quick work of the crabs. They were only five hundred meters away, close enough to start firing. Against our tanks, they didn’t stand a chance. The infantry was less fortunate. I saw one of them fire one of their shoulder mounted cannon, hit an IFV on its side and afterwards I saw the crew throwing themselves out of their vehicle as they burned alive. We took out three-quarters of them before they scrambled back across the field the way they came. Then we picked them off as they ran. Our coaxial gun was working overtime, we barely could keep up reloading that machine gun. I was praying it would’nt jam or overheat. With the last one down and our lieutenant on the radio, praising our performance, I unlocked my hatch, swung it open, and peeked outside. There were still patches of molten magma here and there, and the whole field reeked of sulfur and gunpowder. People were treating the wounded, some men cried, some men were laughing hysterically. Most of them were quiet. I lit up a cigarette, wiping the sweat off my face with a towel. The loader tossed me a can of Monster from our makeshift fridge. I gave him props for his work before he collapsed from exhaustion.

We could have stayed there, all of us would have been happy dying in that field if it meant we slowed their advance into our country. Turns out high command had other plans for us. We held but the units on our flanks were about to break. They had already plans for if ww3 popped off. They already know which unit would be desimated and which would have been spared if the Russians had decided to attack. The worst case scenario had a defensive line from Gdansk through Olsztyn all the way to Bialystok. We had the momentum as we cowardly fled back to Augustow. Stopping time and time again to give time for refugees to flee south. We were glad the Russians in Kaliningrad took a beating. They estimated they held ¾ of the crabs in the southern front. Every fight was harder than the last. We had less and less ammo. Jets were flying less and less. Especially when the crabs found a way to shoot them off the sky.
We felt like cowards every time. Sure we got allot of civilians safe, but even then we felt like we failed despite how many Crabs, Tripods or beetles we stopped.

Gesalec leaned back in his favorite chair and felt something pop before sitting back up. He liked this spot in the bar. He could see all the various races come and go, some would even ask for his advice. He was an old spacer and his knowledge of this sector was vast. It’s said he’s visited almost every system and most inhabited planets in his 170 Galactic years. And some of the young would ask for stories of his adventures. But he was tired of traveling and settled down on this station orbiting the planet Miasma.
So he was only slightly surprised when a tall, reptilian-like alien approached him. The being looked familiar but he couldn’t quite place which race it was. At least 2 1/2 meters tall, 4 muscular arms, bipedal, and a torso covered in tough, leather-like plates. Its head was triangular, with a blunt face containing 6 eyes, a pair of nostrils, and a wide mouth with dozens of small but sharp-looking teeth. It also had 8 pronounced fangs, 4 on top and 4 on bottom.
It wore only boots, a type of pants, and a utility harness on its torso.
“You are Gesalec of the Tharo?” The alien put it bluntly.
Gesalec stared up at the tall being before replying “I am and who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”
“I am Buhazum of the Cudraix.” He answered
Ahh yes, The Cudraix He remembered now, his mind searching for what he knew about them. No wonder he didn’t recognize them, they were rarely seen outside their body armor and enclosed helmets.
They were a warlike race from out near the Rim. They only appeared in this sector 20 years ago by raiding the outer worlds. 5 years after that, they carved themselves a foothold in the sector at the expense of the Fatiri.
Without asking, The Cudraix sat down next to Gesalec. “I understand you know many things about this sector,” Buhazum stated
Blunt and straight to the point, Gesalec thought to himself before answering, “Yes, I am well-traveled.”
“Good, you will come with me,” Buhazum added
Taken aback Gesalec replied, “ Why in the hell would I do that?”
“To meet my superiors, you will be well compensated,” Buhazum said
Getting paid does change things. Gesalec thought to himself
“And how far would I have to go? He asked
Buhazum promptly replied, “Compartment 10, level 1”
So they are at the station and in one of the 1st class quarters. Interesting. Gesalec thought before replying, “Lead on”
It took about 10 minutes to reach the compartment and when the door opened, he was slightly surprised to see just how many Cudraix were in there.
There were maybe 11 of them but after studying the Cudraix for a moment, he concluded 6 were guards. Unlike Buhazum, they wore a variety of raiment that concealed their bodies.
It suddenly occurred to Gesalec, that since they are rarely seen without their helmets and body armor, they were essentially in disguise. And able to move about freely with no one the wiser. He started to wonder just how many Cudraix were hiding in plain sight, across the sector.
Buhazum stepped forward and bowed, “This is Gesalec of Tharo, as ordered Your Majesty.”
Buhazum stepped aside so the others could see Gesalec.
Finding out he was meeting Royalty caught him off-guard but he managed to recover. He gave a bow and spoke “Your Majesty.”
And then added, “I apologize but I do not know who is who.”
A richly dressed Cudraix stepped forward, “ I am Inubasa, Vestes to Empress Shiptu, 2nd wife of Emperor Anunnaki IV. “ He said while using a sweeping gesture to the Empress. Gesalec turned and bowed to the Empress. “My apologies your Majesty for not knowing who you were.”
The Empress just gave a regal nod of her head.
To be honest, Gesalec couldn’t tell the difference between male and female Cudraix, or were they all female? He wondered
Another Cudraix stepped forward, “Grand Straktigo En-Shag-Kush-Ana.”

The Grand Straktigo stepped forward and pushed a button on the console. A map of the sector appeared and the political boundaries were marked on it.
“We are embarking on a new campaign and we need information about races that might be involved. What their military capabilities are, who their allies are, and which are their most important worlds,” he said

Gesalec was shocked at the question and without thinking uttered, “ I can’t do that! Help you kill an untold number of sentients”
Empress Shiptu nodded to Inubasa, who then stepped forward, “The Empress understands your reluctance and offers a compensation of 2 million Galactic credits.”
Gesalec almost fell over from shock. He could almost buy his own station with that much, not a big one but still. After wrestling with his conscience, he agreed to this proposal.
The Empress nodded in satisfaction.

Grand Straktigo En-Shag-Kush-Ana pointed to an area on the map. “We plan to attack these Hamuns and absorb their territory into our Empire. We’ve heard rumors they do not maintain a large fleet and that they are afraid of war. That they’ll negotiate a way out of it.”
Gesalec stared at them in horror. “ You mean to attack the Humans (taking care to pronounce it correctly for them)?”
“ Yes, in 2 standard months” ’ The Grand Straktigo informed him.
After Gesalec regained his composure, he said, “No one in their right mind attacks the Humans.”
Grand Straktigo En-Shag-Kush-Ana laughed, “Why is that? They barely have a dozen systems, we have thousands.”
“What kind of threat could race afraid to fight be to us?”
“Ask the Tekarzions,” Gesalec muttered to himself, not intending for the Cudraix to hear.
But their hearing was better than he knew, “ Who are these Tekarzions? How can we contact them?”
By summoning their ghosts. Gesalec thought to himself.
“You can’t, They are extinct in this sector, and they’re only rumors of small Drifter fleets of survivors. Never staying in one place too long.”
“And these Humans are responsible? So they beat some minor power, probably only a few planets and we’re supposed to be afraid of them?” Grand Straktigo En-Shag-Kush-Ana scoffed.
Gesalec replied, “ Over 80 Galactic years ago, the Tekarzions once controlled most of this sector.” Using his finger to indicate where it was. “138 systems, 600 habitable planets and moons. Hundreds more with vast resources to be harvested.”
“Including the dead rock we currently orbit.” Gesalec finished
For a moment, Gesalec thought he saw doubt on some of their faces, but not being familiar with them, he wasn’t sure.
Grand Straktigo En-Shag-Kush-Ana was not one of them. “We are the Cudraix and fear no one! Especially a race afraid of war, even if they won one decades ago”
“Go on with your explanation as to why we shouldn’t attack them.” The Empress said.
All of the Cudraix seemed shocked that she spoke. “Your Majesty, this alien is not worthy to hear you speak!” Inubasa exclaimed
Grand Straktigo En-Shag-Kush-Ana also spoke out, “Your Majesty, forgive me but as 2nd Empress, you are only here in a ceremonial role.”
With a glare, The Empress addressed them both, “ That is usually so but I feel this is important enough for the Emperor to hear all of it and not just selected tidbits”
She addressed the Straktigo directly, “Would you like me to contact my husband, the Emperor, and see how he responds to my break-in ceremony? Especially after I tell him how you are ignoring the Tharon’s warning?”
I like this one, Gesalec thought to himself.
Both of the Cudraix acquiesced to the Empress.
Looking back towards Gesalec, “Please continue” she ordered
“Yes, Your Majesty” Gesalec bowed and replied.
“The Humans are not afraid of war because of what an enemy may do. Humans are afraid of what it can make them become.” Gesalec started.
“I had a Human friend long ago that once explained it to me.”
“Like you, the Tekarzions saw them as easy pickings,” Gesalec explained,
“The Humans were new to the Galactic community and had just started to expand out of their home system. And when the Tekarzions found out just how much time passed between the Human's first steps into space and how it took almost 2 centuries to leave their home system, they assumed they weren’t very smart either.”
“I found out from my friend later, that it took them so long to leave their cradle because they had been warring amongst themselves almost the entire time,” Gesalec stressed
The Empress spoke up again, “ So they were fighting a civil war that whole time?”
“No, Your Majesty, They were never a single government in the first place. They only formed that after finding out that other races existed. A damaged ship inadvertently fell out of FTL in their system. The crew was dead so the only source of information was the ship.”
“So they examined the ship and reverse-engineered what they found, mixed with their technology,” Gesalec added,
“It had long been a dream of the Humans to find life outside their world, so they were ecstatic to meet other races. They explored, they traded, they shared knowledge freely.”
“So they were caught off guard when a Tekarzion fleet entered their home system and attacked them without warning”
“The Humans suffered enormous casualties at first but they weren’t helpless,” Gesalec said
“They’d fought wars amongst themselves for almost their entire existence and they were very good at it.”
“But they were comparatively novices at deep space combat.”
“It took them months to drive the invaders out and the cost was high. For both sides.” Gesalec paused, “I’ve heard rumors that Tekarzion survivors were traumatized by their later engagements with the Humans. Especially the ground forces.”
“As a departing act of defiance, the Tekarzion launched a missile containing a biological weapon at Earth, the Human cradleworld.”
“My Human friend told me it caused an ecological disaster on their planet. Vasts swaths of their planet became sterile.”
“The biological agents were less effective, against Humans than the Tekarzion hoped”
“ The Humans had a long history of dealing with virulent and deadly diseases, which helped to protect them from the biological agents. It just made them sick but only killed the weakest of them.” Gesalec explained
“Unfortunately for the Tekarzion, this included large numbers of their youngest children.”
Gesalec continued, “As my friend told it, they could forgive the initial invasion. It wasn’t something they hadn’t done in their internal conflicts, they might have answered the ecological devastation of their world with a punitive expedition against the Tekarzion. Something of equivalent damage.”
“But the Tekarzion killed their children by the millions. And that enraged them.”
“Most races only have a couple of words that refer to revenge. The Humans have dozens and none of them are good.” Gesalec explained, “ Vendetta, Revenge, a Reckoning, Retribution, Reprisals, Retaliation, Vengeance, Eye for an Eye, Vindictive and others.”
“But the Tekarzion’s actions brought one of the worst types to their borders. The Humans call it Blood Vengeance. What the Tekarzions did could only be answered with their blood and lots of it.”
“My Human friend explained, that the Human race contains a darkness inside their soul that they fight to suppress. When it escapes and takes over an individual, the death and destruction they cause can ruin dozens of lives.” Gesalec continued, “But when that darkness escapes and runs free through their entire race, then it can inflict horrors beyond your imagination.”
“He once showed me their history and I thought I’d seen enough in my lifetime that nothing would shock me. I was wrong. The things they’d done to each other were the most horrific things I’d ever seen. And that was to each other, so imagine what would happen to an alien race.”
“And this act brought out the very worst in them. It was like they went insane with grief.” Gesalec said

“They combined the things learned from captured Tekarzion technology with their own. These new warships were black as night with wings to make them look like some kind of nightmarish bird.”
“Their body armor was jet black with the helmets stylized into monstrous faces. Not just things from their nightmares but from the Tekarzion too. They called this part of psychological warfare.”
Gesalec shuddered at the thought, “ They attack their opponents' minds, not like a psychic or something but by bringing your deepest fears to life.”
“This is what traumatized the Tekarzion survivors so badly.” “They couldn’t understand the Human’s ways of making wars. They’d stand up and fight when necessary but the Humans preferred to use tricks and deception and mind games.”
“They were like spirits, always striking where the Tekarzion didn’t expect them to, destroy something vital or kill some Tekarzion soldiers and vanish before guards could respond.”
“But things were different now. When their fleets came roaring out of their territories, they did not sneak but bellowed like a charging Ganarak beast. They wanted the Tekarzion to know they were coming and they left a trail of destruction anywhere they went.” “Military or civilian, nothing Tekarzion was left. No ships, no bases, no industries, and no Tekarzion. Those that didn’t flee were roasted in nuclear fire or died choking on the dust flung into the air as Human Mass Drivers lobbed asteroids at their colonies.”
“Even abandoned facilities and colonies were obliterated like they didn’t even want a memory of the Tekarzion. They didn’t even bother garrisoning the worlds they took intact. They wrecked everything Tekarzion and left.”
“This tactic also made it hard for the Tekarzion to determine where the Humans would strike next. And left them running around to places still smoldering from the Humans attacks but no Humans were there. But there were times when the Humans stayed and ambushed the Tekarzion ships that arrived. Their wreckage orbited a dead world ”
“The Humans left the Tekarzion homeworld for last. And after 5 years of war, they were ready for the end and surrounded the planet.” Gesalec finished.
“What happened to the Tekarzion homeworld?” The Empress asked.
Gesalec pointed out a window before saying, “Look for yourself. We are in orbit above it. The Humans renamed it after the war was over.”
“Once the war was finished and their children were avenged, they stepped back from their insanity and took stock of what they had done.” “They had a word for it, Genocide, it was something from their past that brought great hatred towards the ones to carry it out. And now their entire race was stained with that crime.”
“So they pulled back and abandoned all but the systems they now possess.”
“But before they withdrew, they renamed the Tekarzion homeworld Miasma and requested it be used by everyone else as a reminder,-” Gesalec said, “ No one was eager to draw the Human’s ire so they agreed”
“A reminder of what? Of what they would do to anyone else that attacked them?” one of the Cudraix he didn’t know the name of.
Gesalec thought for a moment, “Well, yes but that wasn’t why they did it.”
“The term Miasma was from one of their earliest myths. A term for a type of guilt that runs so deep, that it permanently stains all of their race/their blood. It affects all of them, even the ones living today. They collectively let that darkness run free and the results were so horrific, that they don’t feel it can be forgiven, only atoned for.” “Every year they mark the fall of the Tekarzion homeworld, not with celebration but reminders of what they did.”
“Their avoidance of war is not to protect themselves. It’s to protect others from them.” Gesalec finished
He could tell that only the Empress truly got his point. The rest of them didn’t seem convinced and Grand Straktigo En-Shag-Kush-Ana still thought their military was too superior to lose.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gesalec sat in his favorite chair, enjoying just being among others. It was 3 years ago this week that he tried to convince the Cudraix that attacking the Humans was a bad idea. And that killing their kids was a worse idea. And now they are losing the war, badly. Of the 138 systems they started with, they have less than 21 left.
But not all of those systems fell to the Humans. 57 of them broke away to form their own Empire and allied with the Humans. They are led by a very smart Empress who not only listened to my advice but took it a step further. When her foolish Husband allowed Grand Straktigo En-Shag-Kush-Ana to attack the Humans. After the Grand Straktigo En-Shag-Kush-Ana tried to intimidate the Humans by glassing several civilian colonies, she sent a message to the Humans.
She offered a solution allowing them to get revenge but avoid making the same mistake as before. She would break away from the Empire with as many systems as possible and ally with the Humans. Cudraix civilians could flee to her new Empire for safety. Her forces could even help evacuate those who surrendered, including military personnel.
Meanwhile, the Humans could wreck Her former husband’s Empire as they liked. She also told them she would be handing over any of the officers responsible for glassing the Human colonies, for trial. Gesalec looked forward to seeing Grand Straktigo En-Shag-Kush-Ana on trial.
Author's note
I hope you enjoyed the story.
Constructive criticism is welcome.
https://ko-fi.com/tomcarey in case anyone is feeling generous.

Hey all, looking to build a Polish Radom 11 build, but unsure of what barrels will work with this kit. Ill link my kit, receiver, and barrel selection as of right now. I know the barrel should be a 45 degree not 90, however a buddy mentioned I could just pull a different gas block for it.
Kit: https://armsofamerica.com/polish-radom-11-military-surplus-fixed-stock-parts-kit-no-barrel-very-good-to-excellent/
Barrel: https://palmettostatearmory.com/psak-47-16-7-62x39mm-nitride-barrel.html
Receiver: https://ak-builder.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=31296
Thanks for the help
​

First Previous
"Scargiver, this is Scathach." The Warmaster's voice came out of the Captain's wrist console. The wrist console looked the same as the ones they'd used in the Confederation, but it had been extensively modified to prevent anyone from hacking into it.
"Scathach, Mims." Captain Mims kept walking. They were almost to the bridge of the Encounter. "Go ahead."
"The Klaath are here."
"We know." Mims slapped a control panel. The door to the bridge slipped open. "The Federation called them, somehow."
"We saw the energy surge," the Warmaster informed him, "and we saw you disable the human ship. Do you intend to take up the hunt?"
The Oluken had roughly ten thousand Military ships in Tendril Sector. They were oddly designed, with glowing lines that shifted in strange patterns across their oblong hulls. Long metal tentacles sprouted from the ships, each tipped with some variety of energy cannon. Ten thousand ships was plenty for keeping order in a trading sector, but Yvian doubted it was enough to repel an Incursion.
"Hell yes," The Captain walked past the holodisplay, heading for the consoles at the far end of the bridge. "I never pass up an opportunity to kill the Klaath."
"I thought as much." The Warmaster grunted. "Have your Queenships protect the Gates. My Hunters will secure the stations. I've called reinforcements, and they will be here shortly." He gave a short, annoyed growl. "Someone will have to speak with the Oluken before they soil themselves."
Mims pointed at Lissa as he took a seat in front of the center console. "I'm on it," she acknowledged, taking the console to his left.
"Alert," said Kilroy. "Klaath clusters detected in Aldara sector."
"Of course they are," Mims gritted his teeth. He commed the Warmaster. "Lissa's taking care of the Oluken. We're having," he pointed at Kilroy, "two Queenships jump to each Gate. That should be more than enough."
"Affirmative," Kilroy acknowledged.
"The rest are coming with me," the human continued. "There's another Incursion at Aldara."
"Aldara?" Yvian could hear the Warmaster's raised eyebrows. "If the humans want to throw their planet away, let them."
"I can't do that." Mims took his hand off the comm and pointed at Yvian. "Systems check."
Yvian nodded and took the console to his right. She started a diagnostic routines. Scarrend squatted on his haunches next to her, pulling up a sensor display on his console.
"You can and you should," Scathach disagreed. "The humans are using the Klaath as a diversion. We're bound to defend the Oluken by treaty, but wasting forces on an uninhabited world is foolish."
"I know." Mims pulled up flight control on his console. The Random Encounter was nestled up against the massive hull of the Monster In Paradise. He eased the ship away from the Peacekeeper Queen and raised the shields. "I'm not asking you or the Empire to help. The Peacekeepers and I will be enough."
"Perhaps." The Vrrl allowed. "Unless the humans are dividing our forces in preparation for an attack."
"It's possible." Mims shrugged. "But I think this diversion's for something else. I'll explain later. I've got Klaath to kill."
"Then kill them here," Warmaster Scathach voiced. "Don't let the humans dictate your actions, Scargiver. Protecting their world is an act kindness that will come with a cost."
"This isn't kindness," Mims told him. "It's spite. The Klaath will never have Aldara. Not while I breathe. Can I count on you to take care of things here?"
Yvian's diagnostic programs finished. "All systems green," she reported.
"Foolish." The Warmaster chuffed in resignation. "But I suppose it can't be helped. Go defend your territory human, even if it's not your territory anymore. The Vrrl Starfang Empire will take care of things here."
"Thank you," said Mims.
"Do not thank me, Scargiver," Scathach chided. "The Oluken are of use to the Empire. An attack on them is a challenge to us, and challenges are answered with tooth and claw. We are the Apex."
"Fair enough." Mims pulled up a Nav console and entered the coordinates for Aldara Sector. "May Fortune favor you on the cusp of The Crunch."
The Warmaster grunted. "May your prey be worthy of the hunt." He ended the transmission.
"Our weapon systems are fully functional," Scarrend reported. "Shields are still charging. They will be at full in twenty three minutes."
"We'll go when they're full," said the Captain. "Kilroy, I want two Queenships at every Gate in Aldara. Have Admiral Zhukov send in half a million Stinger units, too. I want half of those protecting the planet. The rest will break off into groups of a thousand and go hunting."
"Big Daddy Mims," Kilroy objected, "we only have eight hundred twenty three thousand and four Peacekeeper Stinger Units. Sending that many to Aldara will greatly reduce the defenses of New Pixa Sector."
"Just do it, Kilroy," Mims ordered. "We've still got forty Queens and millions of convectional ships. If we get hit with more than they can handle, half a million Stingers won't make that much difference anyway."
"Affirmative." Kilroy hesitated. His eyes flashed purple before returning to the red of combat. "Big Daddy Mims, there is no reason for you to go to Aldara yourself. Peacekeeper units will be sufficient."
"No, Kilroy," Lissa disagreed. "We have to go." Yvian nodded her agreement. She knew the man's history, too.
"This ship is a standard Federation built gladiator," the Peacekeeper reminded them. "It will have negligible impact on an Incursion, and is at significant risk of being destroyed."
"I know," the Captain snapped. Kilroy's eyes flashed blue. Mims took a breath. "Sorry, Kilroy. I know the Encounter's not built for this. I know the Peacekeepers can handle this better than I can." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. It's Aldara. The last time the Klaath came there I... I can't leave it alone. I have to go. I have to make sure they can't take anything else."
The machine left his console, eyes still blue. He walked over to Mims and put a hand on his shoulder. "This unit understands." He returned to his station, eyes flicking back to crimson. "Aldara will be protected. The Klaath will be destroyed. We will be sufficient."
"We will be sufficient," the Captain echoed.
"This is foolish," Scarrend objected. "You are throwing away Peacekeeper lives for sentiment."
"You're not wrong," the human admitted. He tilted his head, thinking. "Though to be fair, we'd probably be sending them anyway. A chance to capture more Klaath Queens is too good to pass up."
"Affirmative," Kilroy agreed.
Yvian pulled up a sensor display. Tendril Sector had a sizeable solar system. Lots of planets, and three hefty asteroid belts. None of the planets were habitable, but there were plenty of resources for mines and manufacturing. The sector doubled as a trading hub, and there were nearly a million stations scattered throughout the system. Most of the stations were unarmed. It was something Yvian had expected growing up in the Confederation, but now that she'd seen more of the galaxy unarmed stations struck her as a terrible idea.
Despite the large number of stations, there were only a few hundred thousand ships in the sector. Mostly unarmed Oluken cargo haulers. Yvian assumed anyone who had a jumpdrive had already escaped, leaving the rest of those poor souls to flee to the nearest station and pray that the Elders would drop shields long enough to let them dock. There were also a few hundred ships of the Vrrl Starfang Empire circling a few of the trading posts, gunning down any Klaath that came close. Several dozen vessels of the Pixen Technocracy were doing the same.
Half a million Vrrl capitol ships were dividing into smaller fleets and heading for the stations. The Priderender had already left the formation with an escort of four battlecruisers. More Vrrl were pouring out of each of the Gates, with fighter class Hissiths and Clawwings undocking from battlecruisers and running for the farthest stations at maximum acceleration. None of the Vrrl bothered avoiding the Klaath. Nor did they seek them out. They just moved to their destinations, smashing anything stupid enough to get in their way.
There were roughly fifty thousand Klaath Klusters so far, but more were appearing every second. Each Kluster was a sphere, made up of twenty Raiders grouped around a single Klaath Fighter and fused together. Most of them would drift aimlessly through the void until they came within a few hundred kilometers of a ship or a station. Then the Klusters would erupt, the ships separating and zooming in for the kill. Other Klusters gathered together, forming circles of spinning ships. Space rippled within the circles, opening portals to allow Corvettes, Frigates, and the dreaded Destroyers into the sector.
Two Peacekeeper Queenships were coming out of Tendril Sector's East, South, and North Gates. The Queens would take half an hour to exit the Gates completely, but that didn't stop them from putting their beam weapons to devastating use. The Queens concentrated their fire on the Klaath nearest the Gates. The Klaath didn't use Jumpgates, and destroying the Gates would be the first thing they tried. A few thousand Stinger units detached themselves from each of the Queens, switching their diffused anti-MAC weapons back to traditional long range beam cannons. They would circle around behind the Gates and kill any Klaath attacking from that direction.
The Monster in Paradise and one other Queenship stayed where they were, about two hundred thousand kilometers from the West Gate. Their Stinger units were launching as well. The Random Encounter idled within the Monster's shield bubble, staying protected until its own shields were charged.
The Oluken Military were doing what they could, where they could. All their ships were roughly frigate sized, about two thirds of a kilometer in length. They were fast, almost as fast as a Federation ship, and their shields were much stronger than Yvian expected. Their weapons were less impressive. Each ship had thirty two metal tentacles with cannons on the end, but they packed less punch then Confederation guns, far less than the humans and the Vrrl. The Random Encounter had more firepower, and it was just a fighter. The Oluken had been patrolling in groups of eight, and they were desperately trying to link up with each other or the Vrrl before the Klaath overwhelmed them.
Yvian moved to access the sensor reports of Aldara Sector, but a question from Scarrend interrupted her. "Shouldn't we be sending someone after the spy?"
"In the middle of all this?" Lissa gestured at the sensor display.
"We don't have to hunt her down ourselves," Scarrend pointed out. "A few dozen Peacekeeper units would be more than enough."
"There's no point," said the Captain. "The Peacekeepers let Myrsa get away on purpose."
"They did?" Yvian frowned at the machine.
"Think about it," said Mims. "A Peacekeeper unit's a walking lie detector. Do you really think they didn't know Myrsa was a spy? Or that she wasn't being monitored? There's no way she got to an unattended ship without them knowing."
"Affirmative," Kilroy agreed. "Peacekeeper units had to manufacture an emergency to explain why Myrsa Trin was unattended. The riots provided excellent cover."
"Ok, but... why?" Yvian frowned harder. "Why let her get away? Why let a spy work with Lissa at all?"
"I've got a better question." Lissa's tone was frosty. "Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"That was my call," said Mims. "You're an amazing person, Lissa, and I love you dearly, but you're not cut out for spycraft."
Lissa regarded the human with a glare so furious Yvian could see it through her helmet. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Mims returned her look with the seriousness it was due. "Lissa. If you knew Myrsa was a spy, would you have still made friends with her?"
"What? No!" The glare receded. "I wouldn't have let her work for me at all."
"Exactly," said the human. "It's standard practice to keep track of known spies. If our enemies have a spy in place they're less likely to try sneaking in another one, and it lets us feed false intel and uncover other spies. It's good spycraft, but it only works if they don't know their cover's blown. You're smart, beautiful, and a born leader, but you don't have it in you to pretend to be someone's friend when you're not. Not for long, at least. If we told you about Myrsa, she'd know you were on to her within a day."
"That's..." Lissa started. "I could... No." She sighed. "You're right. I don't have to like it, though."
"Intelligence is a dirty business," said the Captain. "No one likes it."
"Ok, but why'd we let her go?" Yvian came back to the matter at hand. "Why give the humans their spy back?"
"Good question," said Mims. "Kilroy?"
"Myrsa Trin has gathered extensive intelligence on our capabilities," Kilroy answered. "The information she has acquired implies that we are considerably more powerful and dangerous than we actually are. This will increase the likelihood the meatbags will surrender. More importantly, Myrsa Trin will give the humans access to a Lucendian crystal implant."
"What good will that do them?" asked Scarrend. "The only Lucendian ship outside of New Pixa is the child yoked to their anti-tech ship, and that specimen is too small and weak for the humans to pilot."
"Negative," said the machine. "There is one other Lucendian vessel outside of our custody. A vessel with the same capabilities as the fallen Skygem."
Another Skygem? Oh. Oh, Bright Lady. "Blingy," Yvian breathed. She'd handed the ship to the Xill shortly after getting her implant. She'd known the ship was alive. She hadn't realized just how sapient the crystal ships were, but she'd known she was alive. She'd known, and she handed her over anyway. Condemned Blingy to torture and experimentation at the hands of the machines. It might be the worst thing she'd ever done. "You're talking about Blingy."
"Affirmative," Kilroy confirmed. "The ship known as Blingy is still in the custody of the Xill. Specifically, the ship is located at Hub 14, under Reba's control. It is not possible for Peacekeeper units to retrieve the vessel without provoking a war with the Xill. Nor is it likely Exodus the Genocide can convince Consensus to return the ship to us if they succeed in defeating Reba."
"But Reba might give the ship to the humans," Yvian guessed.
"Especially if it'll help screw us over," Lissa added.
"Affirmative," said Kilroy. "Without a functioning Lucendian vessel, the Pixen Technocracy has no way to counter the Vore when they return. We cannot retrieve Blingy from the Xill, so we must take Blingy from the humans."
"A dangerous play," Scarrend remarked. "I have seen what these ships are capable of. If the humans have one when we do not..."
"They might be able to win," said Lissa. "And they know it. Why else would they do..." she gestured at her sensor display. "All this?"
"It's a big risk," Mims agreed. "But I think it's one worth taking. Good work, Kilroy. Tell the other units I'm impressed." He glowered down at his console. "I just wish... What the hell?"
Yvian checked her own display. The Klaath were leaving. Fast. Klusters circled up, opening portals to take the bigger ships out of the system. Those Klusters not forming portals disappeared, going back to wherever they came from. Raiders and Fighters still mindlessly shot at whatever targets they'd found, but the rest of the Klaath were leaving. In a few more minutes they'd all be gone.
"I've never heard of the Klaath just leaving." Yvian could hear Lissa's frown.
"We've never seen an Incursion without a habitable planet either," said Scarrend. "Maybe they figured out there's nothing here but gas giants and barren rocks."
"We get Klusters in uninhabited sectors all the time," said Mims. "Usually just a couple, but I saw a couple thousand pop in at Trinog Sector a few years back. They don't leave. They just float around until the bastards starve to death or someone kills them."
"Big Daddy Mims," Kilroy spoke up. "The Klaath are leaving Aldara Sector as well."
"What the hell?" Mims repeated himself. He typed into his console. Yvian followed his example, pulling up the sensor feed being relayed from the ships in Aldara Sector. It was just as the Peacekeeper said. The Klaath were leaving.
"Strange," Scarrend remarked, "but I suppose we shouldn't complain when a problem solves itself."
"No." The Captain's shoulders were taught. "It can't be that easy. Not with the Klaath." He was silent for a moment, head bowed, breathing slowly. His shoulders relaxed slightly, and he raised his head. "Kilroy, I want everything we can spare at Aldara. Right now."
"What do you mean everything?" Lissa asked.
"I mean fucking everything." The Captain was grim. "Every ship, every weapon platform, every fucking gun Zhukov can spare."
"Are you experiencing a hunch, Big Daddy Mims?" A tinge of purple crept into the red of Kilroy's eyes.
It was another scary thing about the humans. Premonitions. Hunches. Mims claimed there was nothing supernatural about it. Just his subconscious processing information, a benefit born of experience and the brain's tendency towards pattern recognition. Yvian wasn't sure it was that simple, but she did know one thing. When the Captain had a bad feeling, things tended to go very bad, very quickly.
"I don't know. Could be PTSD." Mims clenched his fists. "But better safe than sorry."

That's it, that's the post.
In reality, the show did a lot of little things right - Some of the details, the set pieces, the brahmin with fur, the classic C6520 10mm Pistol (which should be a revolver but eh). But there's so many things that poke my brain in unfun ways that rakes away any enjoyment I have, the Iron Man Esque faceplate and thrusters looked weird imo, the so-called "fiends" on the bridge, the fact that Sinclair looks nothing like his ingame depiction (which might be embellished but still rattles my brain), the lack of any NCR presence in California beyond a retired Ranger, a flag in a vault, and some desperate cultists prancing about in military surplus and paintball masks.
And then there's Shady Sands, my first experience to Fallout.
Gone because of some Vault Tec Corpo.
I honestly think that was the worst way for it to go out, and frankly the rest of my time watching the show was focused on Shady Sands. I first saw it when I watched one of my older cousins play it on my uncle's PC, and I still remember that day. It was new and exciting for someone who only played PS2! Then a few years later, FO3 came out and it reignited my interest in the series. I know it's stupid to feel so...I don't know, strongly about Shady Sands but it sucks.
But moving on, I saw the final battle and was rather disappointed. Where's the tactics? Even the Brotherhood (a supposedly more organized force) was running around like fools and don't even get me started on the two flagbearers running around like this was the Napoleonic Era.
If you read this far, congrats, thanks for letting me ramble and get this off my chest. To those of you who enjoyed the show, more power to you, but I personally can't.

So I just bought my first military surplus/first gun k98k and I was wondering what cleaning tools u recommend I was going to get hoppes 30-32cal cleaning kit for it but any recommendation on other tools or information is helpful or how you recommend cleaning it

Hiya,
I'm dying a german military jacket
(specifically the one that's similar to an Ike jacket, it's the dress jacket of the Gebirgsjager, so if that helps anyone answer.)
I'm quite concerned regarding the actual instructions to dye, specifically, 40 Degrees Celsius, fyi I'm using dylon black pods.
I'm concerned the jacket could shrink, it seems to be made out of a polyester-cotton blend?
Outside 55% poly 45% wool. Inside 72% viscose, 28% polyester.
I know it probably won't cling to the polyester, but imo, if it looks a bit patchy like that, that's cool.
My only concerns are

• Shrinkage (due to temp and length)
• Shoulder pads disintegrating (prob foam)

If the answer is just a "go for it and see", I truly don't mind, because this jacket was like a tenner and they seem extremely common to come by on the surplus market.
Fyi, to any re-enactors or surplus buffs, this isn't an original or wtv, it's a new production made in 1990 or smth.

Boys: Harold, Zee
Episode 13: Lies, Cries, and One Big Prize
"Previously, on Total Drama. Zee, Scarlett, and Harold created their own challenges!"
"Zee went with balancing, which bit big time for Scarlett and gave Harold the shock of his life."
"Harold's treetop race was more entertaining than a sawing monkey. Surprisingly, Scarlett won the challenge, and Harold fell from grace and the trees."
"So, it all came down to Scarlett's challenge: a trivia challenge about the former competitors. Zee didn't have too good a start, but quickly earned himself a spot in the finale."
"It all came down to a final question, and one that Scarlett ironically got wrong. Bye-bye!"
The montage ended with a flash, showing a close-up of Chris in front of a bare rock wall. "Down to two from three," he said, holding up three fingers but lowering one of them, "cause now we're Scarlett-free. But," he lowered another finger, "it'll still be neat to see who gets beat," he punched his open palm. "So! Grab a seat. There's one million bucks on the line," the shot cut to a robotic arm lifting up the open suitcase full of prize money against a radiant orange-and-gold background. "Iiiiiit's finale time!" Chris said as the shot cut back to him.
"On Total! Drama! Paaaaaahkitew Island!"
(Theme Song)
A deep note played as the episode opened on the bunker, the sky dark and the crickets chirping. A deep sigh issued forth from it, and the camera soon cut inside to show Harold tossing and turning in his bed. He got up and grabbed a pillow from the bed above him and closed his eyes with a smile, only to open them and sigh again.
Confessional: Harold
"It's no use," Harold sighed in the confessional. "I just can't get to sleep. I'm too anxious about tomorrow. I don't know if Zee is having the same trouble as I am..."
“It’d be cool if I win the last challenge. Just think about how much better my life would be. No more wedgies, wet willies, and toilet face plunges, my peers would respect me more as a million dollar winner, and I can invest the money in a way that’ll make me more than the show has to afford.”
Confessional Ends
The static cut away to show Harold turning his back to the camera with another sigh, then the shot cut to the inside of the barn to show Zee sleeping peacefully and snoring rather loudly.
Confessional: Zee
"This is a high stress situation, but I’m able to get some rest in order to ease it," Zee explained. "Even if it’s a million dollar competition against Harold."
Confessional Ends
An angelic sound played as the shot returned to a close-up of Harold, his eyes blinking blearily to sleep as the light of dawn streamed in through a window high on the wall above him.
Just as he and the music seemed to reach a peaceful rest, the wail of an airhorn pierced the walls and forced Harold back into wakefulness, his eyes snapping open wide and bloodshot. "Harold and Zee," Chris announced over the camp loudspeakers, the screen splitting in two with a shot of the good vibe guy blearily waking up sliding in on the left. "Meeting area, now!"
The scene flashed to Zee and Harold standing before Chris in the open meeting area. "Yes! Today, I fire one of you from a cannon," he greeted excitedly. "And then start my vacation."
"Plus you'll hand one of us a million dollars," Harold added with a grin.
"I haven't forgotten, dude," Chris said in annoyance. "I'm just focusing on the parts that bring me the most joy. Okay?"
"What's the challenge?" Zee asked. "Is it physical or have you decided on something else?"
Harold grinned. "Total Drama finales are always physical," he said. "And while I am classified as a brain, I'm afraid I have more fighting skills than you."
"Don't get too overconfident just yet," Zee warned. "I might surprise you."
"If I may continue?" Chris interrupted, his annoyed expression soon dropping. "Your final challenge is so demanding, the lawyers insisted each of you get a helper. Ehh," he shrugged, "it's not a horrible idea. I mean," the shot cut to the finalists as they watched him, "maybe they'll be able to help us find your bodies!" Zee and Harold shared a brief but wary look. "So, which of the past contestants would you like as a helper?" Chris asked, stepping over to them.
Confessional: Zee
"I'd prefer Julia," Zee told the outhouse camera. "She's really rad, and we work well together. But I wouldn't be too upset over having anybody else as a helper. Well, except for Scarlett."
Confessional: Harold
"It's no surprise that I'd prefer Leshawna over anyone else," Harold confessed. "She can handle her own battles and objectively speaking, she is the most physically attractive girl this season. I just wish that we were able to talk to each other before she left."
Confessionals End
"I choose Leshawna," Harold said with a smile as the static cut away and a triumphant tune played...for a few brief moments.
Chris chuckled. "'Choose'?" he repeated, laughing again. "Nooo, no no no no no no no...," he told the finalists.
"But you just asked us-," Zee pointed out in confusion.
"I know," Chris conceded, "I asked you who you wanted, I did that to be mean." He laughed again as the sound of squeaky wheels approached. "Your helpers-" the camera pulled back to show Chef pushing a large widescreen monitor up to the host on a cart- "will be selected thusly! When you press this button," he held up a remote control with a single red button on it, "the possible helpers will flash across the screen." A game show jingle played as the shot cut to the monitor, now showing the portraits of the eliminated contestants rolling down across the screen as if on a reel. "Whoever's face it stops on, is your helper."
The reel stopped on an image of Scarlett after drinking Juggy Chunks. "What happens if we land on someone we don't want?" Harold asked.
"You each get one chance to pass and spin again," Chris answered with a wide grin as the sound of a helicopter grew louder. "And just to make things even more interesting," he added, growing more and more giddy with each moment, "I've brought all the helpers out to watch!"
"RELEASE ME, YOU CRETIN! I DEMAND IT!" shouted a familiar voice.
Harold and Zee gasped as the music spiked, and the shot cut to the same dual-rotor military helicopter that Chris and Chef had taken shelter in during the island's malfunctioning as it flew in overhead.
Then the camera panned downward to show the twelve eliminated campers dangling under it tied up in ropes – Max on the far left, then Amy, Sammy, Duncan, Ella, B, Lightning, Scarlett, Julia, DJ, Leshawna, and finally Jo on the far right.
"What's the big idea, McLean?!" Jo shouted hatefully, the shot cutting in close to her and Leshawna.
"Yeah," Leshawna chimed in, "why do I gotta be hanging next to her!" The two girls locked eyes and glared.
"I don't think that's the issue here..." DJ said, the camera panning onto him.
"I personally don't mind being tied up like this," Julia said in a positive tone, the camera pulling back to show her smiling. "I'm just happy to see my boyfriend in the finale."
"I didn't even want to show up, but I would appreciate it if I was actually seated," Scarlett said in a grumpy tone.
"Sha-yeah!" Lightning agreed as the camera panned onto him. "Chris, these ropes might cause Lightning some bruising. Can we get them loosened a bit?"
Scarlett gave Lightning an incredulous look. "You do realize that if the ropes are loosened, you'll fall?"
"Lightning will just get back up again," Lightning told her obliviously.
The camera cut back to B. It lingered on him for a few moments as he awkwardly looked from side to side, then directly at the camera as he smiled coolly.
"Despite this drastic situation we're in," Ella sang after the song panned to her, "I still want either Zee or Harold to win~!"
Another pan to the left showed Duncan watching her. "My money's on Harold," he said, shrugging.
“And how come?” Ella asked.
"Zee's cool and all, but I just know the dork better," Duncan answered.
"Really?" Geoff asked, raising a eyebrow in disbelief. "Are the shows in Jersey really that terrible to watch?"
"They are if ya don't have tickets!" Anne Maria answered happily.
Yet another pan put the focus on Amy and Sammy. "Are you still not going to apologize for how you've treated me ever since we were little?" Sammy asked.
"And why should I?" Amy replied in slight irritation.
"Because I put you in your place and pointed out your own flaws," Sammy explained. “The least you can do is be humble a bit.”
"You may have gotten further than me, but you still didn’t win the season," Amy bragged. “You're a bowl of mush, and I'm a parfait, which is French for perfect.”
“So what's French for bossy blonde cow?” Sammy taunted with a smirk. “I know! Vache blonde autoritaire!”
"You are so going to get it," Amy growled.
The camera pulled back to show Max clenching his eyes shut in pain. "Would you two identical ladies cease that annoying racket?!" he finally yelled with another force to startle Amy and Sammy into looking at him. "Thank y-" he began to say plainly before Amy smacked him in the head. "Hey!" he said, cringing at the hit.
"Okay," Chris said, the music turning slow and plodding as the camera cut back to him, Zee and Harold. "Now that the Peanut Gallery has had a chance to reintroduce themselves, let's move on."
"Whoa, hold on a minute," Zee held up a hand to interrupt. "Why? How? When?"
"Uh, you're gonna have to be a little more specific there," Chris told him, raising an eyebrow.
"He means why are they all tied up?" Harold translated.
Chris let out a long, irritated sigh. "Fine," he said. "I'm keeping them tied up and in plain sight so we don't have them float towards the sun, okay?"
"No," Harold said bluntly.
"Not really," Zee replied.
"Whatever," Chris told them, his brow creased in annoyance. His expression then changed into a smile. "Who goes first will be decided by a coin toss," he explained, taking out a coin and flipping it towards the campers.
It hit Zee in the eye. He yelped in pain, rubbing where he'd been hit.
"Zee wins!" Chris happily announced. "Let's see who you get," he said as the game show jingled played again.
The shot cut to a close-up of the monitor as the portraits began to scroll past, Zee uttering a series of grunts as she watched off-screen – some hopeful, some annoyed. "Okay, stop," he said after a few seconds, the camera moving to him as he pressed the button on his remote.
The simulated reel stopped on Jo. "Not who I wanted at all," Zee said in disappointment as a triumphant jingle played, "but I got what I got and I'm not gonna throw a fit."
"Harold," Chris said, the camera moving back to the finalists as the dweeb pursed his lips, "you're up."
The game show jingle played, and the portraits started flashing across the monitor again – until they stopped on Scarlett. "No..." Harold groaned.
Confessional: Harold
"I knew the odds of getting Leshawna were slim," Harold confessed. "But I want a helper who would actually assist me."
Confessional Ends
An odd note played as the shot cut back to Zee, Harold, and Chris, the latter two sharing a look. "I'd like to spin again," Harold said.
"Have at it," Chris replied, the shot briefly cutting to the pictures flashing across the monitor again.
Harold pressed the button, and sagged in defeat – and the camera cut to the monitor to show that it had landed on Scarlett again. The camera moved in front of Chris as he gave her a mischievous look. "Scarlett again?" he asked in fake shock. "What are the odds?"
The camera pulled back as Chris turned to the right and nodded at Chef, who returned the gesture and walked away. "Okay, looks like Zee gets Jo and Harold gets Scarlett," Chris said, nodding toward the helicopter. The ropes tied around the two chosen helpers abruptly came loose, causing both to fall, but while Scarlett landed in an awkward flop, Jo simply tucked her legs in and rolled as a light but triumphant tune played.
She got back onto her feet just as Zee walked up to her. "Hey Jo. I know we haven't gotten along-" Zee said.
"-but since we're partners, we're gonna have to try and tolerate each other," Jo replied. "Yeah, I know."
Confessional: Jo
"I'm not in the game any more, which still sucks," Jo explained. "But Chill Pill managed to subvert my expectations. He lasted longer than I thought he would have. And if I have to work with him, then so be it."
Confessional Ends
The camera panned to the right as Scarlett snorted and stood up. "I strongly refuse to partake in this," she said, the shot cutting in close as she brushed the dirt off her shirt then turned around.
She took a step, and walked right into Chef, who snickered and locked a thick metal collar around the quiet brainiac's neck.
"Let me guess. You're going to shock me if I don't play along, right?" Scarlett asked in annoyance as she tugged at the collar.
"You'd think that," Chris said with a mischievous smile, "but this is actually something different. In case you somehow ended up as one of the helpers, I had a special collar made that'll tranquilize you if you don't play along," he finished with a smug look.
Scarlett groaned in annoyance. "Fine."
"Hey, as long as you don't just bail, I'm cool," Chris told him.
"I'm not," Harold interrupted with an angry look.
Confessional: Scarlett
"Unless I want a voltage surprise like the ones I received in episode four," Scarlett told the confessional camera with disgust, idly tugging at the collar around her neck, "I'll help Harold with his goal of winning the one million dollars. That doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."
Confessional: Chris
"Am I full of good ideas or what?" Chris chuckled in the outhouse camera.
Confessionals End
"So," Chris said, the static cutting away to show him walking towards the two pairs. "Reunion's over? Good! It's time for your final challenge. I have endearingly titled it, 'The Double Duo of Deadly Dying Death'!" A dramatic spike in the music, reverberated voice, and zoomed-in and angled shot all combined to make the revealing of the title particularly dramatic.
"That sounds dangerous...," Zee said worryingly.
"It's supposed to be dangerous, Dodo Brain," Jo groaned.
Confessional: Zee
"Now I'm wishing I did use my second chance like Harold did," Zee confessed.
Confessional Ends
"Now since Blaineley snuck back onto the island and changed it completely by wreaking havoc in the secret underground control room..." Chris began to explain.
"Umm, hold on," came the voice of Julia, the camera panning back up to the still-loitering helicopter. "What did you just say?" she asked in confusion.
"Wait, you didn't know that?" Duncan asked. "I knew I was forgetting something."
"Host!" Max interrupted, drawing the focus to the other end of the line. "I demand you explain this!"
"No," Chris replied in a deadpan tone. "As I was saying," he continued, putting his bland smile back on as the background music became deep and tense, "we've yet to explore all the wonderful and bizarre new dangers the island's new landscape has to offer. Until now. Harold and Zee," the shot cut back to the two pairs, "with assistance from your helpers-" Zee and Jo shared a frown while Harold and Scarlett shared a glare - "you will race across the island. First one to cross the finish line will receive," Chris turned to the side and grabbed the prized suitcase from Chef, the music building up grandly as he opened it to reveal its glowing contents, "One! Millions! Dol-lars!"
All four teens started cheering.
"All you have to do is survive a 2000-foot plummet from an ice cliff," Chris joyously explained, the camera cutting to the slender peak of a snowy mountain before quick-panning away, "successfully learn to breathe while submerged in mud," the camera panned across a bubbling lake of mud before quick-panning away again, "and then sprint two miles across a wide-open field where," the shot now panned across a seemingly ordinary and empty field, "I'm absolutely sure no harm will come to you."
The shot cut back to the cast as Chris began to laugh raucously for an extended period of time. "The point I'm making," Chris said once he'd finally finished, "is that there's a decent chance you may not survive this."
Both finalists and helpers groaned warily. Then they were each tossed an orange helmet.
"For the first part of the challenge," Chris explained, "the lawyers insisted you wear helmets to protect your brains." The shot cut to him and Chef. "I mean who knows. Someday, you may start using them." The roar of the nearby helicopter suddenly increased, the added wind whipping up a cloud of dust around the men. "When you get to the top of the mountain, it'd be a good idea to build a bobsled," Chris instructed, "or, it'll be a very rough ride down!"
The show's smaller red helicopter was shown flying over, the larger military one flying away with the rest of the former campers still attached. "Grab a rope!" Chris said, the camera panning down the four ropes hanging from the helicopter to show them dangling just above the finalists and helpers. "Your challenge begins...NOW!"
The four grabbed the ropes in front of them, and to a sudden bit of challenge music and a blast of the host's airhorn, the helicopter flew off dragging the startled teens along with it.
"Good luck! Stay safe!" Chris called out after them. "Are things I'd say, if I cared!"
The footage flashed ahead to the top of the snowy peak, several boxes and barrels of various junk – including what looked like several sets of skis – already waiting at the top. The small helicopter arrived momentarily, and the shot cut to its four passengers landing in the show – Jo and Zee on the left, Scarlett and Harold on the right.
"We're supposed to build a bobsled out of this junk?" Jo asked in disbelief.
"No," Zee corrected as he grabbed a pair of skis, "Chris just said it would be a good idea." He tossed the skis onto the ground and stepped on them, a tense challenge tune playing in the background. "I have a different one, so hop on."
The shot cut to a close-up of Jo grinning, then to her jumping onto the skis behind Zee. "Let's do this!" she said as they began to slide forward down the slope and left the scene.
The camera panned onto Scarlett, holding a pair of skis of her own. "We should get moving!"
"What's to stop me from believing that you won't shove me off the skis?" Harold asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.
"I have this wretched collar on. Shoving you is the last thing I want to do. Now get on!" Scarlett told him angrily.
"Fine," Harold said, rolling his eyes and walking over to where Scarlett was already waiting on the skis and got ahead of her. The challenge music rose up again as they leaned forward, and started to slide.
The shot cut to Zee and Jo looking back over their shoulders with grins on their faces. They promptly skied through a tall mogul, slowing them down a little and covering Zee's eyes in snow. "I can't see!" he shouted, clawing at the packed snow as they began to swerve.
"Quick, to the left!" Jo shouted, one hand around Zee's waist and one point ahead of them as they swerved away from the camera around another mound of snow. "Now right!" Jo directed, the two swerving back towards the foreground. "Left!" She shouted, but they just sped through another mogul earning a scream from the jock-ette.
Confessional: Jo
Jo was blue from the cold and shivering heavily.
Confessional Ends
"Well isn't that the best thing that's happened today!" Scarlett taunted as the scene cut back to her and Harold.
"Yeah, well, we're gonna be next if we don't keep dodging these things," Harold pointed out as they began to swerve around the moguls as well. "And I want to try and get ahead of them while we can."
The music ramped up dangerously as the dweeb and brainiac slid towards another mogul. "Left!" Harold shouted.
"No, right!" Scarlett replied, the two leaning to the opposite direction, swerving nowhere, and plowing right through the mound. "Aagh!"
"Scarlett!" Harold growled as they started swerving wildly, snow covering both their eyes. They clipped the side of another mogul, sending themselves into a screaming spin, hit a third mogul, and came out tumbling end over end.
The shot cut to the bottom of the slope, the music leveling off as what looked like a mogul on skis slid down. The camera zoomed in as two patches of snow fell away to reveal Zee and Jo inside, the two moaning and blue in the face. "Zee, we need to move," Jo weakly told her partner, "before-"
A massive snowball suddenly ran them over, breaking the snow but leaving the good vibe guy and jock-ette lying in a puddle of melting snow. A crash was heard off-screen, but the camera lingered in place as Jo groaned and stood up. "Let's go," Jo told her partner. "You're still in this..."
"...yeah," Zee said as he caught his breath. "Yeah!" he said, more energetically this time. "I've got this!" he declared before charging forward, the shot cutting to Jo as she smirked softly then raced after her partner.
The camera followed them along for a few seconds until they reached a heap of snow, skis, and dazed-looking teens, which the shot immediately focused on. "What happened?" Harold shot at his partner, the dweeb lying upside-down half-trapped in the snow. "I told you to go left!"
"And I told you to go right!" Scarlett countered, her head sticking out the right way up but her legs sticking out over it.
"Yes, but I'm the one in charge!" Harold replied. "You're supposed to be helping me!"
"I was steering!" Scarlett said before the snow holding her up crumbled away, causing her to fall over with a startled gasp.
Harold sighed in aggravation before a small pile of melting snow collapsed onto his face.
The scene cut away to show Chris and Chef sitting in lawn chairs eating popcorn as they watched the challenge feed, the host promptly pausing it with a beep and looking at the camera. "This finale's out of control!" he said excitedly as the capstone theme began to play. "Zee and Jo got run over! Harold and Scarlett can't stop arguing! And all of them just plowed through like a ton of snow!"
"Stay tuned, "he continued, the shot moving away but the host quickly popping back up in front of it. "Someone is leaving here a millionaire. It's the finale of Total! Drama! Paaaaaahkitew Island!"
(Commercial Break)

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(Custom Guns, Attachment, Armor) We Have 50+ Guns, All Guns Can Be Modified. 50+ more Armor Including Tactical Vests, Tactical Helmets. Throwable Weapons Like Grenade, Molotovs, flash Grenade.
(Custom Infected Zomies NPCs, Bosses) In the Game Different Moddel Zombies are lurking around the cities, All Zombies Drops Custom Loots Cash That Can Be Use To Buy Supply At Safezone Traders. Boss Located In Specific Locations, You Can Team Up With Your Friends And Kill The Boss To Get Special Loots. All Zombies Have Respawn Time.
(Custom Loot Chest, Custom AirDrop) In the Game There Many Loots Chests can Be Found On Sites Including Guns, Meds, Ammo, Armor, Food, And Water. AirDrop Can Be Drop At High Alert Zone Like Military Base. In Side The Chest You Can Get Special Guns that You Can't Buy From Traders.
(Custom SafeZone) In the Game, There Are 3 SafeZones, and You Can Teleport Each Of Them. PVP Is OFF Inside The SafeZone. All Safezone Has Custom NPCs Including Traders Banker, and Quests.
(KeyCard Room) In the Game, There Are Many High Loot rooms that You Can Only Access By KeyCard. Cards Are Only Drop From Boss, Airdrop, Players, And BlackMarket.
(Black Market ) In the Game There Is A Black Market Area, Inside Can Buy High-Quality Weapns, Armor, Or Sell It For Higher Price, Warning You Have To Take Your Money To Go There, Players Might Kill You And Take You Money And Stuff While You Inside The Blackmarket.
(Daily Kit, Trade Player VoiceChat) **In Game, You Can Trade Or Sell Stuff You Found On The Map With Other Players.